flotsam

noun

flot·​sam ˈflät-səm How to pronounce flotsam (audio)
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 warStan Sesser

Did you know?

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 the early 1600s). The three words were used to establish claims of ownership to the three types of seaborne, 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.

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 on the Web At dawn, the water flowed through some city streets like coastal rivers, moving jellyfish, seaweed and flotsam several blocks landward. Reuters, CNN, 7 Feb. 2024 The European Space Agency, NASA and other spacefaring organizations across the globe have been looking for ways to mitigate the ever-growing cosmic junkyard of old satellites and rocket flotsam crowding Earth's orbit. Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 11 Jan. 2024 In other words, an unfettered wide-open search of the Internet on your own is going to bring up all kinds of flotsam. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 16 Feb. 2024 All of the jobs lost, all of the incoherent flotsam choking our internet, all of the Amazon drop shippers using ChatGPT to write product descriptions, these are but the market expressing its will. Robert Evans, Rolling Stone, 27 Jan. 2024 Lopatin’s compositions often feel slightly out of reach, which can be thrilling—perhaps music (and meaning) coaxed from the flotsam of personal and collective memory is not supposed to be so easily held. Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 4 Dec. 2023 Nell, a young writer, speaks first, her attention flicking between digital flotsam and a consuming, ambiguous relationship. Condé Nast, The New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2023 Here and there, compounds cobbled together out of single-wides, tarps, pallets and other flotsam, ringed by wire fencing, hunkered in the sagebrush. Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Aug. 2023 For Kevin Nunez and his son Nathan, Native Americans who have long family history locked within the rugged and geologically active mountains, volunteering to help remove the flotsam and jetsam of tourists is a solemn duty. Louis Sahagún, Los Angeles Times, 1 Aug. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'flotsam.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Anglo-French floteson, from floter to float, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English flotian to float, flota ship

First Known Use

circa 1607, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of flotsam was circa 1607

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Cite this Entry

“Flotsam.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flotsam. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

flotsam

noun
flot·​sam ˈflät-səm How to pronounce flotsam (audio)
: floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo

Legal Definition

flotsam

noun
flot·​sam ˈflät-səm How to pronounce flotsam (audio)
: floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo compare jetsam

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