acephalous
/eɪˈsɛf(ə)ləs
/ /eɪˈkɛf(ə)ləs/adjective
1Lacking a head: an acephalous skeleton...
- Thus the design may sometimes appear acephalous and at other times polycephalous (Hydra-headed).
2Having no leader or chief: an acephalous society...
- During the late nineteenth century in societies ranging from the acephalous to interlacustrine kingdoms, senior men bolstered their authority through a monopoly of access to locally brewed beer.
- The resistance is largely decentralised, localised and acephalous.
- Sierra Leone was the object of similar plunder, leaving an acephalous state in rampant disorder only to be stabilised by British Tommies.
3 Prosody (Typically of a hexameter beginning with a short syllable) lacking a syllable or syllables in the first foot.
Origin
Mid 18th century: via medieval Latin from Greek akephalos 'headless' (from a- 'without' + kephalē 'head') + -ous.