1. cut off the head of (someone): "with one swift movement, he decapitated the king"
▪ attempt to undermine (a group or organization) by removing its leaders:"the Church had been decapitated by the arrest and deportation of all its bishops"
Word Originearly 17th century: from late Latin decapitat- ‘decapitated’, from the verb decapitare, from de- (expressing removal) + caput, capit- ‘head’.