The act or process of pronouncing a formal curse or condemnation on someone or something, officially excluding them from a group or community.
From anathematize (to curse) plus the suffix -ation (indicating a process or result). Anathematize comes from Greek anathema meaning 'something devoted to evil' or 'a curse,' derived from anatithenai 'to set up or dedicate.'
The Catholic Church used anathematization as a spiritual weapon for over 1,500 years—declaring people cursed and cut off from heaven itself was considered more terrifying than physical punishment during the Middle Ages.
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