- disembodied
- adjective
disembodied faces floated through the smoky mist
Syn:bodiless, incorporeal, discarnate, spiritual; intangible, insubstantial, impalpable; ghostly, spectral, phantom, wraithlike••disembodied, dismemberedDisembodied = separated from the physical body, esp. as a spirit. The word is stretched too far when used to describe a body part severed from the torso — e.g.: "Having said all that, did we really need to see the disembodied [read severed] heads? In a word: yuck. We got the idea with the hacksaw and the meat cleaver, thanks." (Arizona Republic; Nov. 21, 2002.)Dismembered = (1) (of bodily limbs) cut from the torso; or (2) (of a torso) characterized by having had limbs cut off. This term does not work well with heads — e.g.: "In a flurry of recent TV appearances promoting his new book on families, the former vice president has been seen … floating as a dismembered [read detached] head in a jar on the Fox cartoon show ‘Futurama,’ where he's dubbed ‘the inventor of the environment.’ " (Christian Science Monitor; Nov. 19, 2002.) — BG
Thesaurus of popular words. 2014.