Word of the Week: anathema (A-na-thə-mə)
Definition
(Noun)1a. one that is cursed by ecclesiastical authority
b. someone or something intensely disliked or loathed —usually used as a predicate nominative
2. a. a ban or curse solemnly pronounced by ecclesiastical authority and accompanied by excommunication
b. the denunciation of something as accursed
c. a vigorous denunciation : curse
In Context
“While everything pointed to an immense flood, Bretz knew such a notion would be anathema to his fellow geologists. In part that was because the quantity of water needed for such a flood would exceed the flow of all the world’s modern rivers combined”
Richard Lovett, New Scientist, 21-27 Apr. 2007