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.

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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

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jetsam Idioms  

1. see flotsam and jetsam.

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Etymology

Origin of jetsam

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

Example Sentences

When this extraterrestrial jetsam occasionally plunges through the atmosphere, it poses a risk to life, infrastructure and the environment.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

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

From Seattle Times • May 19, 2024

Nearly a year and a half after the full-scale Russian invasion, the war remains a supply line of sorts for Reva, a never-ending tide tossing up new flotsam and jetsam.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 17, 2023

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

From BBC • Apr. 3, 2023

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.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood