Christopher Catling
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The Origin of Jettison
Jettison comes from Anglo-French geteson, which means literally "action of throwing" and is related to the Latin verb jactare, meaning "to throw." The noun jettison refers to a voluntary sacrifice of cargo to lighten a ship's load in time of distress, and it is the source of the word jetsam (the name for goods "jettisoned"); the word is often paired with flotsam ("floating wreckage"). These days you don't have to be on a sinking ship to "jettison" something: the verb also means simply "to get rid of."
Synonyms
Examples of jettison in a Sentence
James Raia, The Mercury News, 8 Apr. 2024
The firm on Tuesday jettisoned the Miami workers from its account management or sales team, Xavier Gonzalez, chief communications officer, said in an interview.
—Vinod Sreeharsha, Miami Herald, 5 Apr. 2024
Amazon jettisoned many contract recruiters, and Meta’s 11,000 job cuts in 2022 disproportionately affected the recruiting and business divisions.
—Irina Ivanova, Fortune, 2 Apr. 2024
In contemplating whether to jettison the cardinal rule of past Mideast diplomacy, Mr. Biden may take encouragement from a 21st-century subclause.
—Ned Temko, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Mar. 2024
And the easiest way to correct course without losing face is to jettison that which Apple TV does not have a stake in, i.e. the U.S. Open Cup.
—Ian Nicholas Quillen, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024
As the battery replacement mission continued, and with no more HTVs of the old design expected to arrive (they are being replaced by the HTV-X cargo spacecraft), the decision was made to jettison the pallet independently.
—George Dvorsky / Gizmodo, Quartz, 8 Mar. 2024
Hertz has begun jettisoning some 20,000 EVs from its global fleet.
—Jeanne Whalen, Washington Post, 24 Feb. 2024
And after the border compromise collapsed Tuesday, some suggested jettisoning that portion from the package and advancing the aid for U.S. allies on their own.
—Stephen Groves, arkansasonline.com, 7 Feb. 2024
Roger Trapp, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2023
Hot staging comes two seconds later with the simultaneous ignition of the Starship upper stage and jettison of the Super Heavy booster.
—Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 8 Nov. 2023
Sarafin ticked off all of the launch accomplishments including all of the separation events for the rocket including the boosters, fairings, jettison of the launch abort system, shutdown the four RS-25 engines and jettison of the core stage.
—Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel, 17 Nov. 2022
There’s physical freedom and authenticity: Charlotte jettisons shapewear and lets her belly hang out in an adorable new dress.
—Vicki Shabo, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Aug. 2023
And there are the older restaurant’s original chairs, which designer Becky Carter decided to restore rather than jettison for newer pieces.
—Bebe Howorth, ELLE Decor, 31 July 2023
Hire back your engineers, focus on what works and jettison what doesn’t.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2023
But the deal jettisons many top conservative priorities contained in a bill passed by the House last month: deeper spending cuts, elimination of billions in funding for new IRS agents and a rollback of green energy incentives intended to tackle climate change.
—Joseph Morton, Dallas News, 30 May 2023
The book written by David Thompson with Sharon Washington maintains the film’s immediate post-World War II jubilance but jettisons much of the plot that was specific to De Niro and Minnelli.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 26 Apr. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'jettison.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near jettison
Cite this Entry
“Jettison.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jettison. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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