jetsam

American  

[jet-suhm] / ˈdʒɛt səm /

Or jetsom

noun

1. goods cast overboard deliberately, as to lighten a vessel or improve its stability in an emergency, which sink where jettisoned or are washed ashore.

---

jetsam British  

/ ˈdʒɛtsəm /

noun

1. that portion of the equipment or cargo of a vessel thrown overboard to lighten her, as during a storm Compare flotsam lagan

2. another word for flotsam

---

jetsam Idioms  

1. see flotsam and jetsam.

---

Etymology

Origin of jetsam

1560–70; alteration of jetson, syncopated variant of jettison

Explanation

Jetsam is debris floating around the water that has been dumped from a sinking ship. Sometimes beachcombers find jetsam washed up on shore. You often see the phrase "flotsam and jetsam" because both words refer to wreckage from a ship, but how the stuff got there is the difference. Flotsam is from a shipwreck, and jetsam is thrown off the ship to prevent it from sinking. People often use jetsam to mean any discarded objects, not just from the ocean.

Example Sentences

He recommends self-nudging, deliberately tuning our media inputs and scrolling practices to reduce time spent mentally fending off the internet’s flotsam and jetsam.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026

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.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 4, 2025

They will tell you he was the flotsam and jetsam of a sport which was becoming unmoored from reality.

From BBC • Apr. 3, 2023

Slowly, to the sound of gently undulating waves, the bodies begin to roll from side to side, like jetsam washing onshore.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 23, 2023

Already men were labouring to clear a way through the jetsam of battle; and now out from the Gate came some bearing litters.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien