decapitate

[ dih-kap-i-teyt ]
See synonyms for decapitate on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object),de·cap·i·tat·ed, de·cap·i·tat·ing.
  1. to cut off the head of; behead: Many people were decapitated during the French Revolution.

Origin of decapitate

1
1605–15; <Late Latin dēcapitātus, past participle of dēcapitāre, equivalent to dē-de- + capit- (stem of caput) head + -ātus-ate1

Other words from decapitate

  • de·cap·i·ta·tion, noun
  • de·cap·i·ta·tor, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use decapitate in a sentence

  • Nothing does it quite like deftly decapitating a bottle of bubbly with a gleaming blade.

    How to Saber a Champagne Bottle | James Joiner, The Daily Beast Video | December 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • Prominent in Cruikshank's caricature (a bitter one) is a sarcophagus upon which lies a cow whom Time is decapitating.

    George Cruikshank | W. H. Chesson
  • There were fully a dozen cane-knives—big hacking weapons with razor-edges, capable of decapitating a man at a stroke.

    Adventure | Jack London
  • He installed one of the claimants, and provided against a revival of the quarrel by decapitating the other.

    The Pacification of Burma | Sir Charles Haukes Todd Crosthwaite
  • During the jubilee year he excited the wonder of all Rome by decapitating a bull with a single stroke in one of these contests.

    Lucretia Borgia | Ferdinand Gregorovius
  • In her turn the mother, unable to survive the loss of her children, seized the weapon and succeeded in decapitating herself.

    Vikram and the Vampire | Richard F. Burton

British Dictionary definitions for decapitate

decapitate

/ (dɪˈkæpɪˌteɪt) /


verb
  1. (tr) to behead

Origin of decapitate

1
C17: from Late Latin dēcapitāre, from Latin de- + caput head

Derived forms of decapitate

  • decapitation, noun
  • decapitator, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012