Word.ws English Dictionary

acephalite

UK/ɐsˈɛfəlˌa͡ɪt/

acephalite noun: a follower of an Acephali movement.

Noun (1)

acephalite (plural acephalites)

  1. (historical) a follower of an Acephali movement.

Noun (2) capitalized: Acephalite

Acephalite (plural Acephalites)

  1. (historical, uncommon) A radical Monophysite in the era after the Council of Chalcedon (451 CE).
    • […] nor does he charge Beatus or Heterius (that wild ass) with being a Eutychian, or a follower of Eutyches, or acephalite, or any other term recalling the monophysitism of the fifth century or its descendants.1993, John C. Cavadini, The Last Christology of the West: Adoptionism in Spain and Gaul, 785-820, →ISBN, page 43
    • The Greater Chronicle […] makes it clear that the roots of the Acefali lay in their failure to accept the Three Chapters of Chalcedon […] the Lesser Chronicle, 39, states simply that ‘The heresy of the Acephalites arose’ (my translation).2012, Jamie Wood, The Politics of Identity in Visigothic Spain: Religion and Power in the Histories of Isidore of Seville, →ISBN, page 212

Forms of acephalite

pluralacephalites
pluralAcephalites

Origin of acephalite

Borrowed from Late Latin acephalus + -ite, from Ancient Greek ἀκέφαλος (aképhalos, “headless”)

Borrowed from Late Latin acephalus + -ite, from Ancient Greek ἀκέφαλος (aképhalos, “headless”), apparently referring to the movement’s refusal to accept the decisions of church councils.

Questions about acephalite

What does acephalite mean?
Acephalite means a follower of an Acephali movement.
What part of speech is acephalite?
Acephalite is a noun.
How do you pronounce acephalite?
Acephalite is pronounced /ɐsˈɛfəlˌa͡ɪt/ (UK).
What is the plural of acephalite?
The plural of acephalite is acephalites.

Words near acephalite in the dictionary

  1. acephalic
  2. acephaline
  3. acephalism
  4. acephalist
  5. acephalists
  6. acephalite
  7. acephalites
  8. acephalobrachia
  9. acephalocardia
  10. acephalocheiria
  11. acephalochiria

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: acephalite (page history and authors); Acephalite (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “acephalite.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/acephalite. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.