Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Anathema \A*nath"e*ma\, n.; pl. {Anathemas}. [L. anath?ma, fr.
   Gr. ? anything devoted, esp. to evil, a curse; also L.
   anath?ma, fr. Gr. ? a votive offering; all fr. ? to set up as
   a votive gift, dedicate; ? up + ? to set. See {Thesis}.]
   1. A ban or curse pronounced with religious solemnity by
      ecclesiastical authority, and accompanied by
      excommunication. Hence: Denunciation of anything as
      accursed.

            [They] denounce anathemas against unbelievers.
                                                  --Priestley.

   2. An imprecation; a curse; a malediction.

            Finally she fled to London followed by the anathemas
            of both [families].                   --Thackeray.

   3. Any person or thing anathematized, or cursed by
      ecclesiastical authority.

            The Jewish nation were an anathema destined to
            destruction. St. Paul . . . says he could wish, to
            save them from it, to become an anathema, and be
            destroyed himself.                    --Locke.

   {Anathema Maranatha}(see --1 Cor. xvi. 22), an expression
      commonly considered as a highly intensified form of
      anathema. Maran atha is now considered as a separate
      sentence, meaning, ``Our Lord cometh.''

Source : WordNet®

anathema
     n 1: a detested person; "he is an anathema to me" [syn: {bete
          noire}]
     2: a formal ecclesiastical curse accompanied by excommunication