How to Use decapitate in a Sentence

decapitate

verb
  • Others used machetes to hack off spear and lance points, and then decapitate their foes.
    — Scott Dalton, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 July 2022
  • The body had been decapitated and both arms had been severed.
    — Leonard Greene, New York Daily News, 12 June 2024
  • People have threatened to come by and lynch me, decapitate me.
    — Mike Brest, Washington Examiner, 24 Dec. 2020
  • That’s not the first time a team mascot has been decapitated.
    — Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 3 Sep. 2025
  • Worden’s body had been decapitated, gutted and hung by its feet like a deer.
    — Keith Langston, PEOPLE, 11 Oct. 2025
  • This guy was stabbed 100 times, decapitated, had his heart torn out of his chest.
    — Fox News, 18 Aug. 2018
  • Caleb was decapitated while riding in one of the park's water slides.
    — Marilia Brocchetto, CNN, 27 Mar. 2018
  • The victims were stabbed, shot or beaten to death, with one decapitated.
    — Ben Westcott, CNN, 28 Oct. 2019
  • The mushroom, therefore, can’t be sliced and diced; decapitate it, and the pearls go tumbling.
    — Matthew Hutson, The New Yorker, 22 Nov. 2021
  • Walden's body was better concealed and had not been bound, but his throat had been slashed so deeply as to almost decapitate him.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 16 July 2024
  • His best friend was decapitated by a mortar round and his head ended up in Schrock's lap.
    — Meg Jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11 June 2018
  • One statue in the nearby city of Yonkers was decapitated, the head dumped next to a trash can.
    — Barbara Demick, latimes.com, 2 Sep. 2017
  • The top of the car may be sheared off; the occupants are often decapitated.
    — Rich McHugh, NBC News, 12 Dec. 2017
  • The bodies were then decapitated and priests removed the skin and muscle from the corpses’ heads.
    — James Rogers, Fox News, 27 June 2018
  • There are still lines that can’t be crossed, and one of those lines is joking about decapitating the president.
    — Alex Shephard, New Republic, 31 May 2017
  • Williams said the body had not been decapitated or frozen, as some news outlets have reported.
    — Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2026
  • An official said one man’s throat was slit while a woman’s throat was cut in what looked like an attempt to decapitate her.
    — Noemie Bisserbe and Sam Schechner, WSJ, 29 Oct. 2020
  • Maynard decapitated Blackbeard and hung his head from the front of his ship.
    — Chris Scott, CNN, 26 May 2017
  • Priests cut the victims’ hearts from their chests, then decapitated the bodies and defleshed the skulls.
    — Katie Langin, Science | AAAS, 22 June 2018
  • At the time, the team reported that a volcanic cloud had launched a stone door jamb toward the man, decapitating him.
    — New York Times, 29 June 2018
  • Brosso was decapitated and subject to a frenzied knife attack and Bernas was cut on her neck and chest.
    — Lane Sainty, The Arizona Republic, 13 Mar. 2023
  • Her body was found in a duffel bag, nearly decapitated, police said.
    — Chicago Tribune, 4 Mar. 2026
  • Her body was found in a duffel bag, nearly decapitated, police said.
    — Madeline Buckley, Chicago Tribune, 3 Mar. 2026
  • Williams said the body had not been decapitated or frozen, as some media outlets have reported.
    — Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2026
  • The parents were found nearly decapitated and with stab wounds at their home in Virginia.
    — Washington Post, 17 Dec. 2019
  • The sources say Schlecht was found in the apartment’s bathroom, decapitated.
    — Chris Harris, PEOPLE.com, 8 Nov. 2019
  • Bundy would go on to murder and decapitate her ex-boyfriend John Robert Murray.
    — Jeremy Childs, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2023
  • The Islamists slit throats, decapitated villagers and shot teenage girls for not wearing the veil.
    — Adam Nossiter, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2024
  • The victim had been decapitated, and a machete and a large kitchen knife were found at the scene, according to the complaint.
    — Jon Haworth, ABC News, 31 Jan. 2024
  • When Hunahpu emerged to see if the sun had risen, the creature decapitated him and took his head to be used by the gods in their sports.
    — Erik Kain, Forbes, 6 Nov. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'decapitate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: