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.
That view, unlike a similar one in Spain would be, is not yet spoiled by parasols and day-trippers’ detritus.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
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
There’s a dead spot on the former site of a bounce house, and the detritus of five children suggests, at all times, that we are running the world’s chintziest yard sale.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
By then, it was too late for many entombed in the detritus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
The sights were familiar, the inventory was the same, but now there was more of everything; vehicles, bomb craters, detritus.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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.
