anathematize

• anathematise

• IPA^(key): /əˈnæ.θə.mə.taɪz/

anathematize (third-person singular simple present anathematizes, present participle anathematizing, simple past and past participle anathematized)

1. (transitive) To cause to be, or to declare as, an anathema or evil.
   • 1850, Herman Melville, chapter 3, in White Jacket:

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

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

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

   • 2009, Candace de Russy, "Madness, Thy Name Is 'Stimulus'," American Thinker, 13 Feb. (retrieved 21 Feb. 2009):

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

• condemn, damn, deprecate, excoriate, vilify

• anathematization
• anathematizer