as in debris
the portion or bits of something left over or behind after it has been destroyed
the expanse of tree stumps represented the detritus of a vast forest that had been mercilessly clear-cut
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of detritus
Hundreds of workers from the Indian city of Cooch Behar lug steel girders into the concrete shells of what will be dormitories, as a leaf blower removes detritus from an artificial-turf soccer pitch.
—
By Charlie Campbell/gelephu, Bhutan, TIME, 16 Jan. 2025
And while space debris and meteoroids of comparable mass burn up in our atmosphere almost every day, this piece of manufactured orbital detritus is unique.
—Eric MacK, Forbes.com, 7 May 2025
But if there isn’t enough kelp detritus to go around, urchins can start feeding on the living kelp itself.
—Byrd Pinkerton, Vox, 1 Apr. 2025
At others, the idle pump jacks stood silent — corroded skeletons at the end of the line, the detritus of another run through the playbook.
—Mark Olalde, ProPublica, 30 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for detritus
By Charlie Campbell/gelephu, Bhutan, TIME, 16 Jan. 2025
And while space debris and meteoroids of comparable mass burn up in our atmosphere almost every day, this piece of manufactured orbital detritus is unique.
—Eric MacK, Forbes.com, 7 May 2025
But if there isn’t enough kelp detritus to go around, urchins can start feeding on the living kelp itself.
—Byrd Pinkerton, Vox, 1 Apr. 2025
At others, the idle pump jacks stood silent — corroded skeletons at the end of the line, the detritus of another run through the playbook.
—Mark Olalde, ProPublica, 30 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for detritus
Recent Examples of Synonyms for detritus
Noun
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Chavez's action on that night left the crowd at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona, showering the ring with debris.—
Trent Reinsmith,
Forbes.com,
27 June 2025
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Less than two minutes into the burn, the motor's exhaust nozzle violently shattered into countless shards of debris.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
26 June 2025
Noun
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Firefighters from the Philadelphia Fire Department, using a search dog, continued to sift through the rubble in the Nicetown neighborhood Sunday afternoon, looking for victims and what caused the blast, according to Daniel McCarty, the fire department's executive officer.—
Bill Hutchinson,
ABC News,
29 June 2025
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In addition to aerial attacks, a man died when Russian troops shelled the city of Kherson, and the body of a 70-year-old woman was found under the rubble of a nine-story building hit by Russian shelling in the Zaporizhzhia region.—
Volodymyr Yurchuk,
Chicago Tribune,
29 June 2025
Noun
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The power of the blast sent wreckage flying across the river into Mexican territory.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
27 June 2025
-
The exhibit trailer flipped end-over-end, then ripped in half, scattering flyers and lead cowboy figurines across the burning wreckage.—
Hazlitt,
Hazlitt,
18 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Detritus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/detritus. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
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