How to Use detritus in a Sentence

detritus

noun
  • As he packed, he sifted through the detritus of a failed relationship.
  • The area wasn’t all detritus, though.
    — Holden Seidlitz, New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2026
  • Many see it as a helpful way to get rid of detritus for free.
    — Katherine Lagomarsino, Country Living, 9 Feb. 2018
  • The detritus of those who didn’t make it out littered the prison.
    — Lynsey Addario, New York Times, 21 Dec. 2024
  • Still, at the end of the year there were no glue sticks in the bag of locker detritus.
    — Star Tribune, 14 Aug. 2020
  • Track detritus to right of us In line with sand castle to left.
    — Pioneer Press, Twin Cities, 27 Jan. 2024
  • Among the detritus cleared from gutters and lawns are the future of the state’s forests.
    — Justin Wm. Moyer, Washington Post, 12 Nov. 2023
  • Some pieces were simply plucked from the detritus and left unchanged.
    — Kevin Fagan, SFChronicle.com, 9 July 2018
  • Want to take a dip but daunted by the scum and detritus on your pool's walls, floors, and surfaces?
    — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 25 June 2026
  • Near my home is a grass triangle of land that serves as a magnet for detritus.
    — Bill Torpy, ajc, 6 July 2018
  • Permafrost—ground that remains frozen year-round—is capped by a few feet of dirt and plant detritus.
    — Katie Orlinsky, National Geographic, 16 Aug. 2019
  • The hinge that allows the device to flex could let in water and detritus.
    — Washington Post, 2 Oct. 2019
  • An acrid miasma emanates from the pan in which the detritus sits.
    — Robert Hackett, Fortune, 24 May 2018
  • Picnic detritus surrounds our little camp, and my two boys are wrestling not far away.
    — Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026
  • Harsh wind and high tides also bring summer detritus to the surface.
    — Owen Thomas, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 Mar. 2025
  • Viral aerosols are tiny and compose just a small fraction of the detritus that floats around in the air.
    — Emily Anthes, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2021
  • That scene of beach detritus—the conference of shells—lodged itself in my brain.
    — Laura Bannister, Vogue, 21 Mar. 2022
  • The tour revealed thickets of weedy grass, old tires, and other rusty detritus.
    — Brian Amaral, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Apr. 2022
  • 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
  • The great piles of detritus in the street had completely vanished.
    — Amer Matar, The Dial, 26 May 2026
  • Like an explosion, the piece drops splintered detritus on the floor.
    — Susan Dunne, courant.com, 14 June 2021
  • Yes, if the speculative detritus comes to a quick end.
    — Jim Cramer, CNBC, 16 Nov. 2025
  • The tarmac is lined with the detritus of those who had run the gauntlet and succeeded.
    — Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2021
  • Pizza Rat exists on my phone amid the detritus of a more hopeful life.
    — Han Ong, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023
  • But what will determine this team’s fate still lies ahead of it and in their own hands, not the detritus of this series.
    — Evan Grant, Dallas News, 7 Sep. 2023
  • From his garage to room after room, the house is packed with the detritus of fame adjacency.
    — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Mar. 2024
  • Over the years, the public has seen the detritus of violence such as the blood stains and the police tape.
    — Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 31 May 2022
  • The desk holds one of five jars of her own art detritus, open so that visitors can sift and analyze the stuff.
    — Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2020
  • To spot-clean, first vacuum the top of your bed to get rid of dust, dander, and other detritus.
    — Louryn Strampe, WIRED, 9 Mar. 2025
  • The pop culture detritus from the era suggests Yarrow is on to something.
    — Daniel Arkin /, NBC News, 23 June 2018

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

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