detritus
Americannoun
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rock in small particles or other material worn or broken away from a mass, as by the action of water or glacial ice.
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any disintegrated material; debris.
noun
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a loose mass of stones, silt, etc, worn away from rocks
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an accumulation of disintegrated material or debris
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the organic debris formed from the decay of organisms
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Loose fragments, such as sand or gravel, that have been worn away from rock.
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Matter produced by the decay or disintegration of an organic substance.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of detritus
1785–95; < French détritus < Latin: a rubbing away, equivalent to dētrī-, variant stem of dēterere to wear down, rub off ( de- de- + terere to rub) + -tus suffix of v. action
Explanation
There aren't many things more depressing than walking on a beautiful beach and discovering a stretch of it that's covered in detritus. Detritus means trash or debris. Usually, detritus refers to waste or junk of some kind, but it can actually mean any accumulation of material, not only man-made stuff. Loose gravel, silt, and sand can all be called detritus, and so can decomposed organic matter, like piles of dead leaves. The Latin word detritus literally means "a wearing away."
Vocabulary lists containing detritus
Lord of the Flies
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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
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Just Mercy
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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.
The building, filled to its ceilings, grew increasingly dilapidated; Langley’s paranoia about suspected intruders led him to build mazes of detritus to throw them off.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
"Everyone heard them, everyone," he told AFP after his mother was pulled from the detritus alive but later died.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Purifoy’s fantastical assemblages made of found objects and unloved detritus provided the most fitting example of the creative desert mindset.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2026
Yet one of Ms. Lewin’s main arguments is that writing gets done in transitory and chaotic spaces, too: in cafes, at kitchen tables, on the train and amid a fair amount of clutter and detritus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
On the advice of Dr. Golan, who thought it would be good for me to “confront the scene of my trauma,” I was enlisted to help my dad and Aunt Susie sort through the detritus.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
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.
