acephalous

American  

[ey-sef-uh-luhs] / eɪˈsɛf ə ləs /

adjective

1. Zoology. Also acephalic headless; lacking a distinct head.

2. without a leader or ruler.

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acephalous British  

/ əˈsɛfələs /

adjective

1. having no head or one that is reduced and indistinct, as certain insect larvae

2. having or recognizing no ruler or leader

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Etymology

Origin of acephalous

1725–35; < Greek aképhalos; see a- ⁶, -cephalous

Explanation

Anything that is acephalous is headless — like the acephalous horseman of folklore. The term acephalous refers to organisms that lack a head, or to a group or society with no leader, or "head." Clams, oysters, mussels, and scallops are acephalous, as are sea stars, sea urchins, and sponges. Some historical tribal societies were acephalous: they had no one formal, decision-making authority. Leaderless digital communities and music bands are acephalous. The term is also used in poetry: An acephalous line is missing its first syllable based on an expected metrical pattern — e.g., "da-DUM da-DUM" becomes "DUM da-DUM." The term acephalous comes from Greek, where a- means "without" and kephalē means "head."

Example Sentences

Pare, Benivenius, and Columbus describe adults with acephalous monsters attached to them.

From Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by Pyle, Walter L. (Walter Lytle)

There is nothing more audacious in the poet's conception of the worm looking up towards humanity, than the naturalist's theory that the progenitor of the human race was an acephalous mollusk.

From Ralph Waldo Emerson by Holmes, Oliver Wendell

And Mr. Buckle begins with making Personality acephalous, and ends-with appending its corpse to Society, to be galvanized into seemings of life.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, No. 63, January, 1863 by Various

But in its present acephalous condition it is but a fragment of science—a headless corpse, unfit to rank among complete sciences.

From Buchanan's Journal of Man, April 1887 Volume 1, Number 3 by Buchanan, Joseph R. (Joseph Rodes)

The great development of mantle in the acephalous molluscs has rendered eyes, and even a head, entirely useless to them.

From Evolution, Old & New Or, the Theories of Buffon, Dr. Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck, as compared with that of Charles Darwin by Butler, Samuel