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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

headless.

Without a head (body part).

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈhɛdləs/
  1. Without a head (body part). Synonym of decapitated.

    not-comparable
    How did the headless horseman see to chase Ichabod?
  2. Without a head (body part). Naturally having and needing no head.

    not-comparable
    headless invertebrates
  3. Without a head (hardware or device feature).

    not-comparable
    a headless nail;   a headless set screw
  4. Without leadership.

    not-comparable
    The headless army blundered along after the death of their general, accomplishing nothing.
  5. Not having a head morpheme or word.

    not-comparable
  6. Running without a graphical user interface; running without any attached output device (e.g., monitor) or input device (e.g., keyboard, mouse).

    not-comparable
  7. Without a head of foam.

    not-comparable
  8. Heedless.

    not-comparable · obsolete
  9. Rimless, not having a cartridge case rim (flange).

    not-comparable · obsolete
    A headless shell doesn't have a flange.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English heedles, hevedles, from Old English hēafodlēas (“headless”), equivalent to head + -less. Cognate with Dutch hoofdloos (“headless”), Danish hovedløs (“headless”), Swedish huvudlös (“headless”), Icelandic höfuðlaus (“headless”). Piecewise doublet of chefless and chiefless.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.