acephalic

adj

1. (not-comparable)Without a head.

   “an acephalic statue”

   “[…] two acephalic sardines in mustard sauce are asleep in the rank darkness of their tin container.”

2. (dated, not-comparable)Characterized by a migraine aura without pain.
3. (not-comparable)Without a leader.

   “an acephalic society”

   “1688, uncredited translator, A Dissertation Concerning Patriarchal and Metropolitical Authority by Emmanuel Schelstrate, London: Matthew Turner, [Introduction], p. xx, […] he endeavours not only to shew that the English Church was Acephalic, that is, without a Head; but also Autocephalic, that is under its own proper Jurisdiction only […]”

   “[the] acephalic democracy [of Aleut village communities]”

4. (not-comparable)Deficient in the beginning, as a line of poetry that is missing its expected opening syllable.

   “The acephalic pentameters yield to tetrameters with a starting dactyl or anapest […]”

5. (not-comparable)Lacking the first portion of the text. (of a manuscript)

   “All the texts, with the exception of the acephalic Homiletic Fragment I, begin with a large, plain capital letter […]”