riderless
Horse sans equestrian
Riderless describes something normally ridden that has no rider: a riderless horse, a riderless bicycle.
The word appears most often in ceremonial contexts—a riderless horse with boots reversed in the stirrups accompanies military funeral processions, symbolizing a fallen leader who will never ride again.
Service honoring the dead
- processionFormal moving line
- tributeOffering of respect
- memorialThing preserving remembrance
- honorHigh regard, moral dignity
military · symbolic · stirrups · caparisoned · cortege · dignitary · Arlington · tradition
Fastened or fled suddenly
- looseNot firmly secured
- escapedGot away from confinement
- strayWander from course
- wanderingTraveling with no fixed course
unmounted · galloping · panicked · spooked · unbridled · free-running · masterless · ownerless
Ghostlike or wavelength-related
- phantomInsubstantial apparition
- hauntingDisturbingly unforgettable
- eerieDisturbingly strange
- apparitionVisible supernatural manifestation
ethereal · spooky · supernatural · spirit · specter · wraith · shade · otherworldly
Operating without human control
- self-drivingOperating without human control
- unmannedHaving no human aboard
- roboticStiff and unemotional
- automatedOperating without human control
autopilot · sensors · navigation · drone · remote · pilotless · machine · technology
funeral
Service honoring the dead
- processionFormal moving line
- tributeOffering of respect
- memorialThing preserving remembrance
honor · military · symbolic · stirrups · caparisoned · cortege · dignitary · Arlington · tradition · solemn
bolted
Fastened or fled suddenly
wandering · unmounted · galloping · panicked · spooked · unbridled · free-running · masterless · ownerless · roaming
spectral
Ghostlike or wavelength-related
apparition · ethereal · spooky · supernatural · spirit · specter · wraith · shade · otherworldly · mysterious
driverless
Operating without human control
- self-drivingOperating without human control
- unmannedHaving no human aboard
- roboticStiff and unemotional
automated · autopilot · sensors · navigation · drone · remote · pilotless · machine · technology · algorithm