salvage
Americannoun
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the act of saving a ship or its cargo from perils of the seas.
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the property so saved.
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compensation given to those who voluntarily save a ship or its cargo.
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the act of saving anything from fire, danger, etc.
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the property so saved.
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the value or proceeds upon sale of goods recovered from a shipwreck, fire, etc.
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the act of saving something of use or value from destruction, damage, ruin, loss, or waste.
The salvage of carcass parts for pharmaceutical or research use is permitted if it does not interfere with sanitary operations.
verb (used with object)
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salvages,
present (3rd person singular)
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salvaged,
past participle, past
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salvaging
present participle
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to save or rescue (property) from shipwreck, fire, or other peril.
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to save from destruction, damage, ruin, or loss.
A new achievement was the only way to salvage his reputation.
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to preserve (a useful or valuable part) from something otherwise wasted, discarded, or deemed a failure: I tried to salvage the unburnt part of the cornbread.
We purchase end-of-life vehicles and salvage scrap metal.
I tried to salvage the unburnt part of the cornbread.
The team has a chance to salvage some degree of glory from a dismal season.
noun
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the act, process, or business of rescuing vessels or their cargoes from loss at sea
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the act of saving any goods or property in danger of damage or destruction
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( as modifier )
a salvage operation
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the goods or property so saved
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compensation paid for the salvage of a vessel or its cargo
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the proceeds from the sale of salvaged goods or property
verb
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to save or rescue (goods or property) from fire, shipwreck, etc
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to gain (something beneficial) from a failure
she salvaged little from the broken marriage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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salvagesimple
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salvagessimple
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have salvagedperfect
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has salvagedperfect
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am salvagingprogressive
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are salvagingprogressive
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is salvagingprogressive
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have been salvagingperfect progressive
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has been salvagingperfect progressive
Past
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salvagedsimple
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had salvagedperfect
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was salvagingprogressive
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were salvagingprogressive
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had been salvagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of salvage
First recorded in 1635–45; from Old French; see origin at save 1, -age
Explanation
To salvage something is to save it...before it's too late. You might try to salvage your damaged reputation by defending yourself, or salvage a burnt piece of toast by scraping off the black residue. As a noun salvage is the act of rescuing stuff from a disaster like a shipwreck or fire — or the rescued goods themselves. As a verb, salvage means to collect or rescue that sort of item, or more generally to save something from harm or ruin. If you want to salvage your grade, you need to stop gaming so much and start studying more.
Vocabulary lists containing salvage
Esperanza Rising
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This Week in Words: September 29 - October 5, 2018
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The Cay
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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:
Over the past few days, in an attempt to salvage the obviously empty Board of Peace agreement, Kushner traveled to Egypt, along with his fellow board member and former U.K.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
By daybreak, residents were returning to their damaged homes to salvage some belongings before they collapsed completely.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
He could salvage his reputation following his infamous vote for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He could, in short, live a little bit.
From Slate ● Aug. 8, 2026
They had found a 1999 local newspaper story claiming that police had searched salvage yards by helicopter as well as dragging the Fox River but there was no evidence the latter had happened.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
"Ares 3 was a failure, but we can salvage something from it. We're funded for five Ares missions. I think we can get Congress to fund a sixth."
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
“Destitute of all comfort and company,” he salvages what he can from the wreckage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
Baltimore’s Recreation and Parks Department salvages wood from city trees and redirects it to Camp Small, a city-run processing facility, where it’s used in city construction or sold to residents.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 3, 2022
Holland eventually chooses to use his power for Good, and not for Evil, and in doing so salvages the sacrosanct purity and moral reputation of Marvel superheroes.
From Salon ● May 5, 2022
“Of course, she’s at least going to make it to the finish. This could just be the medal that salvages everything after all. Right now I just feel like a joke.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2022
He charms the druggist’s wife into giving him a broken earphone; he salvages a solenoid from a discarded doorbell, solders it to a resistor, and makes a loudspeaker.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Since the late 1960s, Saar has transformed washboards, dolls, clocks, family photographs, racist memorabilia and other salvaged materials into emotionally charged assemblages now held in the permanent collections of more than 60 museums.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Steve Bradley, operations director with Jevington Logistics, estimated there would be a total of 110 tonnes of steel salvaged from the "well-built" ship while speaking from a tugboat as the dismantling work continued nearby.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
But she's confident her house can be salvaged.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
Not that the script could have been salvaged by better acting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
We attempted to figure out what could be washed or cleaned or salvaged.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
He has also been an international champion of his “recovered voices” project, salvaging the neglected operas of composers in the first half of the 20th century who were silenced by Nazi Germany.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
Mediators tasked with salvaging the struggling initiative requested ten more days to deliver their conclusions, the French government said this week after reports suggesting the effort had failed to bear fruit.
From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026
"Their aim has to be salvaging the season by qualifying for the Champions League with a top-four or perhaps top-five finish - but that's a big drop-off from what we saw last season," added Shearer.
From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2026
Mark Joseph Stern: I think anyone who cares about salvaging American democracy needs to be asking those exact questions.
From Slate ● Dec. 26, 2025
“I can’t think about this right now. After seeing the house again, salvaging pretty much nothing...We don’t even know what we’re eating for dinner.”
From "Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World" by Ashley Herring Blake
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.
