flotsam

[flot-suhm]

noun

1. the part of the wreckage of a ship and its cargo found floating on the water.

2. material or refuse floating on water.

3. useless or unimportant items; odds and ends.

4. a vagrant, penniless population.

   the flotsam of the city slums in medieval Europe.

flotsam

/ ˈflɒtsəm /

noun

1. wreckage from a ship found floating Compare jetsam lagan

2. useless or discarded objects; odds and ends (esp in the phrase flotsam and jetsam )

3. vagrants

Word History and Origins

Origin of flotsam¹

1600–10; < Anglo-French floteson, derivative of floter to float < Old English flotian

Word History and Origins

Origin of flotsam¹

C16: from Anglo-French floteson , from floter to _float

Example Sentences

It was enough to make a person feel no more than a speck, a scrap of flotsam or jetsam tossing in the waves, to be cast willy-nilly into such an unimaginable expanse.

Read more on Literature

He has intimidated media companies, legislators and universities, and he leads a White House filled with the sort of flotsam one would usually find at the bottom of a long-clogged shower drain.

Read more on Salon

While the garden is rooted in local culture, built bit by bit from the flotsam and jetsam of Los Angeles locations and plants native to the ecology, the programming is more global in approach.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"It was impossible not to conclude," he later wrote, that for Powell "the struggle was about achieving long-term objectives, not simply a mastery of the flotsam and jetsam of current events".

Read more on BBC

Even though Polk was severely injured, Faulkingham said, he was safe and felt God was watching as flotsam and jetsam from his boat was pushed ashore.

Read more on Seattle Times