anathematize

present singular third person anathematizes · participle present anathematizing · participle past anathematized · past anathematized · alternative anathematise

1. transitiveTo cause to be, or to declare as, an anathema or evil.

   These are the fellows that some officers never pretend to damn, however much they may anathematize others.

   1850, Herman Melville, chapter III, in White-Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers; London: Richard Bentley, published 1855, →OCLC

   4 more examples

   Rowdy had been heard, more than once lately, to anathematize viciously the prairie-dogs for standing on their tails and chip-chip-chipping at them as they went by.

   1907, B. M. Bower, chapter 9, in Rowdy of the Cross L

   As the cruise was to consume a year at least, for they were to stop for indefinite periods at various points of interest, Clayton mentally anathematized Tennington for ever suggesting such a ridiculous trip.

   1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 100

   "Crook in the guts," he says tersely. The picturesque reports of previously-treated and disgusted patients have left him doubtful, and he casts an anathematising eye upon the "Black Jack" bottle. "Tabloids and duty!" says the doctor, and the sufferer sighs with relief. There's no taste in tabloids, anyhow, and he reckons the doctor "ain't a bad poor something, after all!"

   1914 October 11, “In camp: The day’s work of a W.A. soldier”, in The Sunday Times, number 875, Perth, W.A.: E. W. Finn for “The Sunday Times” Publishing Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1, column 8

   Harvard economist Robert Barro anathematized it as "probably the worst bill that has been put forth since the 1930s" and, in a word, "garbage."

   2009 February 13, Candace de Russy, “Madness, Thy Name Is 'Stimulus'”, in American Thinker, retrieved 21 Feb 2009

   Synonyms: anathemize, condemn, damn, deprecate, excoriate, vilify