Examples of behead in a Sentence
Louis XVI was beheaded in 1793.
Mary, Queen of Scots, was beheaded for plotting against Queen Elizabeth.
Recent Examples on the Web
After years of scrutiny and criticism over his ties with Epstein, his arrest was the first for a senior royal since Charles I, who was beheaded for treason in 1649.
—
Alexander Smith, NBC news, 20 Feb. 2026
The last senior member of Britain’s royal family to be arrested in connection with a serious crime was King Charles I, who was beheaded for treason in 1649 following his defeat in the English Civil War.
—Rafi Schwartz, TheWeek, 20 Feb. 2026
Charles was arrested, tried, convicted of high treason and beheaded in 1649.
—Danica Kirka, Los Angeles Times, 19 Feb. 2026
Long gone are the days when out-of-favor lords could be imprisoned in the Tower of London or beheaded for treason.
—ABC News, 18 Feb. 2026
England had been without a king for eleven years, after Charles’s father was beheaded, on a temporary wooden platform outside Banqueting House, part of the palace of Whitehall.
—Sam Knight, New Yorker, 16 Feb. 2026
Another was almost certainly beheaded; the first vertebra of their spine was cut and there was a big cut mark on their lower jaw.
—Issy Ronald, CNN Money, 4 Feb. 2026
The couple then forced their two younger sons, ages 8 and 9, to view their siblings’ beheaded bodies and remain confined in their bedrooms without food for several days.
—Alexandra Koch, FOXNews.com, 3 Feb. 2026
In another city, the mayor was beheaded.
—Miami Herald, 31 Jan. 2026
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Alexander Smith, NBC news, 20 Feb. 2026
The last senior member of Britain’s royal family to be arrested in connection with a serious crime was King Charles I, who was beheaded for treason in 1649 following his defeat in the English Civil War.
—Rafi Schwartz, TheWeek, 20 Feb. 2026
Charles was arrested, tried, convicted of high treason and beheaded in 1649.
—Danica Kirka, Los Angeles Times, 19 Feb. 2026
Long gone are the days when out-of-favor lords could be imprisoned in the Tower of London or beheaded for treason.
—ABC News, 18 Feb. 2026
England had been without a king for eleven years, after Charles’s father was beheaded, on a temporary wooden platform outside Banqueting House, part of the palace of Whitehall.
—Sam Knight, New Yorker, 16 Feb. 2026
Another was almost certainly beheaded; the first vertebra of their spine was cut and there was a big cut mark on their lower jaw.
—Issy Ronald, CNN Money, 4 Feb. 2026
The couple then forced their two younger sons, ages 8 and 9, to view their siblings’ beheaded bodies and remain confined in their bedrooms without food for several days.
—Alexandra Koch, FOXNews.com, 3 Feb. 2026
In another city, the mayor was beheaded.
—Miami Herald, 31 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Behead.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/behead. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
behead
verb
be·head
bi-ˈhed 
: to cut off the head of
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