noun
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a person who has been shipwrecked
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something thrown off or away; castoff
adjective
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shipwrecked or put adrift
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thrown away or rejected
verb
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Etymology
Origin of castaway
First recorded in 1520–30; noun, adj. use of verb phrase cast away
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Years later when a shred of aircraft aluminum and the rubber heel from a woman’s shoe were found on an island 400 miles from Earhart’s destination, she was imagined to have been a castaway.
From Los Angeles Times
This show, 46 seasons in and still going strong, returns with the host Jeff Probst and 18 castaways who are headed to Fiji to compete and survive.
From New York Times
He was a contestant on the 32nd season of “Survivor,” where he was voted out on Day 27 with eight castaways remaining.
From Seattle Times
Others speculate that she and Noonan were executed by the Japanese or died as castaways on an island.
From Seattle Times
The story: This Other Eden is a powerful, lyrical story set on an island off Maine, home to a community of freed slaves and other castaways.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.