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

The cavernous space is mostly filled with chairs, desks, filing cabinets and other bureaucratic jetsam.

From Seattle Times • May 19, 2024

But when Mr. Tunnell went to lift it up, the leg turned out to be a prosthetic, one of the many items of flotsam and jetsam that come ashore along the Texas coastline each year.

From New York Times • May 20, 2023

The place was a back eddy, a pool of jetsam beyond the pull of the main current, and that suited him just fine.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer