verb (used with object), de·cap·i·tat·ed, de·cap·i·tat·ing.
- to cut off the head of; behead: Many people were decapitated during the French Revolution.
verb
- (tr) to behead
1610s, from French décapiter (14c.), from Late Latin decapitatus past participle of decapitare, from Latin de- “off” (see de-) + caput (genitive capitis) “head” (see capitulum). Related: Decapitated; decapitating.