anathema means: something/someone that's hated or shunned. That subject is anathema to him. Obedience is anathema to Jacob.
Back in the Colonial period, to be unmarried and pregnant is an anathema.
Cannibalism is considered anathema to any civilized person.
The words "your grand father has past away" were anathema to the little girl
"The plague that swept through the village acted as an anathema upon the local people." If you're looking for a definition, though, it means something that is deeply evil (perhaps religiously so,...