junkyard
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of junkyard
Explanation
A junkyard is a place where garbage is kept, especially scrap metal, until it's sold. Most of the trash in a junkyard can be reused or recycled. Piles of rusted metal and smashed bodies of old cars are common sights at a junkyard. The word clearly comes from the junk, or trash, that's stored there — and although it is undeniably junky, it's also got some value to companies that recycle metal. Junkyards are also called "wrecking yards" or "scrapyards." A "junkyard dog" is a guard dog that keeps watch overnight in case thieves try to steal valuable metal.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
One account on X said: "Ferrari just killed their brand just like Jaguar did. This is straight to the junkyard trash."
From BBC ● May 26, 2026
A farmer who owned a Model T didn’t need a forge or metal lathe to fix his engine; he could simply order a replacement part—or cannibalize one from a wrecked car in a junkyard.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
One day a local reporter and photographer arrived at the junkyard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2024
Eliot, unfolding as a dance-heavy, revue-like show about cats gathering in a junkyard for their annual Jellicle Ball, has been seen as strange at best, and kitsch at worst.
From New York Times ● Jun. 18, 2024
They’d try the junkyard first, hefting iron slabs in case some stray sheet of metal had shifted and pinned me.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
When Romero arrived at one of these desert junkyards, she says she couldn’t believe her eyes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2024
It is part of a sweeping movement that is transforming dusty highway shoulders, parking lots, schoolyards and junkyards worldwide.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2023
Autonomous vehicles that are not worth repossessing could be made to drive themselves to junkyards.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 3, 2023
Mostly rural communities, a few junkyards and a handful of developing neighbourhoods in this part of San Antonio make it easy for a truck this size to go unnoticed - until it doesn't.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2022
These boys had long left their homes and were now living in various neighbourhood junkyards, making it on their own.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
