junkyard
Americannoun
-
junkyards
plural
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:
Since then, residents in the area say the lot has deteriorated into a junkyard filled with trash — including scraps of metal, wood and broken outdoor furniture.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 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
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
Soon after, she was attending a national conference of state legislators and decided to tag along on a junkyard tour.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 1, 2024
Styx hooked his fingers over the edge of the junkyard fence.
From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon
When Romero arrived at one of these desert junkyards, she says she couldn’t believe her eyes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2024
He writes other issues the government has not dealt with include the court backlog, fraud against older people, and fly-tipping - which has turned "neighbourhoods into junkyards".
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2023
Autonomous vehicles that are not worth repossessing could be made to drive themselves to junkyards.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 3, 2023
“The people of failed Toledo can say to the people of the rest of the world, ‘Our junkyards are more splendid than your palaces.’”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 15, 2022
“As the years went by, the store and I became dusty junkyards, and after a while I didn’t care.”
From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
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.
