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
There are creaky sections with various bits of percussion and tapped string overtones conveying an otherworldly Harry Partch-like texture, the sort of junkyard orchestra that inspired Tom Waits in the 1980s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026
When Adam Cooper came across an old junkyard filled with RVs and rock crawlers in South Central, he immediately saw its potential.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 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
At lunchtime he borrowed Garrett’s bicycle and set out for the junkyard.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
The series, which premieres on Prime Video on May 20, is set amid junkyards and repair shops, gangs and high school cliques.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2025
At some point, Purdy said, he saw a future where there are propellant depots in space, tugs that can move damaged satellites, junkyards and manufacturing in space on commercial space stations.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 8, 2023
Autonomous vehicles that are not worth repossessing could be made to drive themselves to junkyards.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 3, 2023
Hand, 68, worked most of his life as an auto mechanic — a skill he learned in his father’s junkyards near Detroit and Little Rock, Arkansas.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 15, 2022
City clutter had fallen behind and now there was country clutter, junkyards, a trailer park, billboards advertising dog food and faraway hotels.
From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt
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.
