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Glite Dictionary
🗡️ Beheading 🐌 Shell tip loss
decollation

decollation

1 9.9
Cutting off a person's head as a punishment
  • noun
  • /dɪˈkɒleɪʃən/
  • NSFW
: decapitación
  • The decollation of the king was a grim spectacle that shocked the entire kingdom.

Examples

  • Throughout history, many rulers faced decollation as a punishment for treason.

  • The historical painting depicted the decollation of Saint John the Baptist as a significant event.

  • The oratory was dedicated to the Decollation of the Baptist, and no other subject for its altarpiece would have been appropriate.

    Academic text (2012)

  • Caravaggio was probably already in custody by the time of the festa of the Decollation on August 29.

    Academic text (2012)

  • 17 The canvas was likely dedicated on August 29, the feast day of St. John's Decollation, the oratory's titular.

    Academic text (2012)

Synonyms

decapitation
vsdecollation
  • Offensive
20 8.6

The act of cutting off the head of a person or animal, usually to kill them

is narrower and stresses human execution rather than animals or other cases
beheading
vsdecollation
  • Offensive
17 8.6

Killing someone by cutting off their head

focuses also on removing the head, not only on causing death

Surface Forms

decollation singular
decollations plural

Morphology

decollation = decollate (opaque) = de + coll + ion

The formation decollate -> decollation is a regular verb-to-noun derivation with -ion, which is transparent once the base verb is known.

Etymology

Decollation comes from the Latin parts de- 'off' and collum 'neck', so it literally means 'taking the neck off'. A helpful image is a removed collar, which makes it easier to remember that decollation means beheading.