HOW TO PRONOUNCE
anathema
/əˈnæθəmə/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:13
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uh-NATH-uh-muh: stress NATH.
Use the unvoiced th of “thin.” The three other vowels are light uh sounds, surrounding the short, stressed a of “cat.”
4 syllables · Stress on syllable 2
TRY SAYING
“The idea of a rigid schedule was anathema to him.”
APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗What does anathema mean?
noun
- Something which is vehemently disliked by somebody.
- (literary) An imprecation; a curse; a malediction.
- Any person or thing anathematized, or cursed by ecclesiastical authority to unending punishment.
More meanings (1)
noun
- (historical) A ban or curse pronounced with religious solemnity by ecclesiastical authority, often accompanied by excommunication; something denounced as accursed.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/əˈnæθəmə/
Pronunciation used in the listening tip.
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
Archdeacon Denison, chairman of the committee of Convocation appointed to examine it, uttered a noisy anathema.
Thither his wife went with him, and Mr. Otis discarded them both, if not with anathema at least with contempt.
More book examples (3)
From snowy white to an unlovely dark brown turn the carefully washed fleeces, causing anathema from overseers and depreciation from brokers.
This holy philosophy, to which the slaves were indebted for every thing, this invocation of the Gospel, was an anathema against property.
Finally some rash investigator, not having the fear of scientific anathema before his eyes, crudely cured a few leaves, and actually put them in hot water.