beheaded

7.1

With the head cut off, often as a way to kill someone

adjective
/bɪˈhɛdɪd/

Offensive

: decapitado

When Dubin is beheaded, the head placed in a basin and set before the king, the head opens its eyes and asks the king to start reading.

Examples

After six days of battle, Al Mukhtar fell, Ali Ibn Muhammad was beheaded and the Zanj rebellion was over.
As a warning to others, the general ordered that any deserters would be beheaded.
The royal family of Kingdom A got beheaded, all of them.
And she was, she was beheaded in a rather mediaeval fashion.
He was, he was beheaded and that's the way it's done.
He insisted on standing up and being beheaded from the front so that people could see that he did not flinch from the blow.
They turned their back on this country to support a group that butchered and beheaded innocent civilians, including British citizens.
The captured traitor was beheaded in front of the crowd as punishment for his betrayal.
In the historical tale, the queen was beheaded for plotting against the king.

Synonyms

headless

vsbeheaded

25 4.0

A person or object with no head, for example a statue

is the state after the head was cut off during killing

decapitated

vsbeheaded

Offensive

8.1

With the head cut off

is identical but highlights killing as the purpose

executed

vsbeheaded

Formal

6.4

Put to death after a court sentence

is a specific form of legal death that involves cutting off the head

Antonyms

alive

∞ 1.0

Still present and not dead

How Violent

beheaded

Offensive

7.1

murdered

3.0

dead

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

beheaded positive

Morphology

beheaded = behead (transparent) = be + head + ed

Formed by adding the regular past-participial suffix '-ed' to the verb 'behead'; the action/result meaning is straightforward.

Etymology

The word beheaded comes from the parts be- and head; be- acts like 'make' and head means 'head', so it literally means 'made without a head'. That's why beheaded describes someone who has had their head cut off.