spec. A formal ecclesiastical censure or anathema; a sentence of excommunication.

An authoritative decision; a judgement pronounced by a tribunal. spec. = sentence of excommunication.

A curse, a malediction.

spec. ‘A spiritual punishment inflicted by some ecclesiastical judge.’ Ayliffe. (The earliest recorded sense.)

punishment imposed by the church, typically consisting of some form of spiritual deprivation such as excommunication or denial of Christian…

A formal ecclesiastical denunciation; anathema, interdict, excommunication.

= censure, n. 1b.

In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches: the formal statement or declaration of an anathema (anathema, n.1 2b); an ecclesiastical denunciation…

More generally: a curse or imprecation; a condemnation or denunciation.

(with plural) An invocation of evil, a curse.

Short for ‘sentence of excommunication’.