flotsam

[ flot-suhm ]

noun

1. the part of the wreckage of a ship and its cargo found floating on the water. Compare jetsam, lagan.
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. See jetsam, lagan
   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

The flotsam and jetsam of our digital queries and transactions, the flurry of electrons flitting about, warm the medium of air.

From Popular-Science

Getting rid of the flotsam in your home was a virtuous activity even before the pandemic, when lockdowns gave millions of people plenty of time to take a hard look at their stuff.

From Quartz

These regions are like cosmic dead zones and have been collecting planetary flotsam for billions of years.

From Science News

There is a bucket in our heads that is always at least partially filled with the flotsam of pandemic decision-making, and even when it’s only a couple inches deep, we are drowning in it.

From FiveThirtyEight

After being rescued from the ocean several times Buster spent the rest of the afternoon  collecting flotsam and jetsam.

From The Daily Beast

The sifter dumped flotsam—bricks, wiring, barbecue grills, bicycle wheels—in piles to be shipped to landfills upstate.

From The Daily Beast

Once the sand was plowed back onto the beaches, volunteers scoured it for any flotsam that got through the sifting machines.

From The Daily Beast

Debris originally thought to belong to the airplane has turned out to be unrelated flotsam.

From The Daily Beast

We were in hopes they would look upon our boat as flotsam and jetsam, of which there was more or less strewn upon the beach.

From Project Gutenberg

The spectators melted away into the gathering mist and rain, a flotsam of black umbrellas.

From Project Gutenberg

The flotsam and jetsam of too many sentimental stories and fairy tales were afloat in the child's active mind.

From Project Gutenberg

We sometimes wondered whether any of the flotsam thus cast upon the waters ever reached the civilized world.

From Project Gutenberg

When the weather cleared again, I don't know how long it was, I crawled down and overhauled the flotsam.

From Project Gutenberg