headless
Americanadjective
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without a head.
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having the head cut off; beheaded.
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having no leader or chief; leaderless.
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foolish; stupid.
a headless argument.
adjective
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without a head
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without a leader
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foolish or stupid
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prosody another word for catalectic
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of headless
before 1000; Middle English he ( ve ) dles, Old English hēafodlēas. See head, -less
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Irving’s whimsically inventive “Sketch Book” of stories introduced Rip Van Winkle, the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow and other timelessly folkloric figures to an eager readership.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 19, 2026
It contained several digital distortions, including a headless agent.
From Barron's • Jan. 30, 2026
As Ambrose Pierce wrote, “Patriotism is as fierce as a fever, pitiless and the grave, blind as a stone and irrational as a headless man.”
From Salon • May 17, 2025
Most incongruously of all, outside a makeshift plastic doorway on a corner of the ground floor, next to piles of rubble and rubbish, stands a headless mannequin, wearing a wedding gown.
From BBC • Mar. 4, 2025
Pull as he might, it remained a luminous rising in the twilit air, like a stairway to nowhere, or the headless incarnation of a jack-in- the-box.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
