acephalous
/əˈsɛfələs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 0.00 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
1
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Having the style spring from the base, instead of from the apex, as is the case in certain ovaries
adj
A system of society without centralised state authority, where power is welded amongst groups of community entities e.g. clans. Without a leader or chief.
adj
Deficient in the beginning, as a line of poetry that is missing its expected opening syllable.
adj
Lacking the first portion of the text. (of a manuscript)
adj
Without a beginning.
Example Sentences
- "[…] Mr. Cruickshank saw a Monster nine Months old, which lived thirty-six Hours after it was born, though it had no Cranium: […] But is this a Reason that we should believe the vital Functions and the Increase of the Body have no dependence on the Brain? I think not: for such acephalous Subjects never live long […]"
- "“But tell me, my Dea—my Psyche!— (With your wings outspread as to race With that swift and acephalous Nike Who lost her bean somewhere in Thrace)—"
- "an acephalous society / community"
- "[…] an Oecumenical Council is a whole, and a Body whereof the Pope, or he that presides in it in his place, is the Head[.] For there is no Acephalous Council, as M. Schelstrate speaks, that is to say, without a Head, calling that of Constance so in the Absence of the Pope."
- "A very brief acephalous interim followed the death of the dark Dictator."
- "They have acephalous or headless Verses, which commence with a short Syllable instead of a long one:"
Etymology
From French acéphale, from Ancient Greek ἀκέφαλος (aképhalos, “headless”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”). By surface analysis, a- + -cephalous.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: acéphale, ἀκέφαλος
Inflected Forms
more acephalous (comparative)
most acephalous (superlative)