flotsam

noun flot·sam \ ˈflät-səm \

|Updated on: 17 May 2018

Examples: flotsam in a Sentence

Editor's Note: flotsam and jetsam Aren't Just Ursula's Eels

Definition of flotsam

1 : floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo; broadly : floating debris

flotsam washed up by the tide

2 a : a floating population (as of emigrants or castaways)

human flotsam

b : miscellaneous or unimportant material

a notebook filled with flotsam and jetsam

c : debris, remains

the village … built on the flotsam of war
—Stan Sesser

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Examples of flotsam in a Sentence

flotsam washed up on the shore
the dispirited family picked through the flotsam of their possessions after the hurricane, looking for anything that could be salvaged

Recent Examples of flotsam from the Web

Those trees were about the only thing that stopped the flotsam that shot down the water chute.

— azcentral, "Into the water," 15 May 2018
Flood waters also contain chemicals and will leave behind bathtub-like rings of mud in homes and all manner of flotsam and jetsam on streets and lawns as the Ohio River withdraws back into its banks.

— james bruggers, The Courier-Journal, "You might not want to know how much sewage wastewater is mixed in floodwaters," 27 Feb. 2018
The improvement Darvish represents over the flotsam that will filter through their starting five could be all the difference between a playoff run or an October spent at home.

— jon tayler, SI.com, "Troubling Offseason Trend Continues as Cubs Snag Yu Darvish at Reduced Rate," 10 Feb. 2018
But even the films that, at the time, were written off as flotsam and jetsam . .

— ben sachs, Chicago Reader, "Film / History The Music Box kicks off a season of Michael Curtiz revivals with the silent melodrama A Million Bid," 20 Apr. 2018
In that span of 2,149 days between postseason games, a lot of water has gone under the bridge and Sixers fans were compelled to watch a good deal of roster flotsam drift along with it.

— bob ford, Philly.com, "The 76ers and their long, strange trip back to the NBA playoffs | Bob Ford," 13 Apr. 2018
After sifting through mountains of Xbox flotsam and jetsam, Van Cleave talked the recyclers into letting him take home five motherboards.

— brendan i. koerner, WIRED, "The Young and the Reckless," 17 Apr. 2018
Smallest flotsam and jetsam can be used as the base for your newest compost pile.

— sally mccabe, Philly.com, "April 6-12: In the garden, it's time to… | Sally McCabe," 5 Apr. 2018
Waves and wind send flotsam and jetsam across vast stretches of ocean.

— carl hoffman, Outside Online, "Has Amelia Earhart Really Been Found?," 3 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'flotsam.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

flotsam and jetsam Aren't Just Ursula's Eels

English speakers started using "flotsam," "jetsam," and "lagan" as legal terms in the 16th and 17th centuries. (The earliest evidence of "flotsam" dates from around 1607.) The three words were used to establish claims of ownership to the three types of sea-borne, vessel-originated goods they named. Flotsam was anything from a shipwreck. (The word comes from Old French floter, meaning"to float.") Jetsam and lagan were items thrown overboard to lighten a ship. Lagan was distinguished from jetsam by having a buoy attached so the goods could be found if they sank. In the 19th century, when "flotsam" and "jetsam" took on extended meanings, they became synonyms, but they are still very often paired.