How to Use jetsam in a Sentence

jetsam

noun
  • Waves and wind send flotsam and jetsam across vast stretches of ocean.
    — Carl Hoffman, Outside Online, 3 Apr. 2018
  • Smallest flotsam and jetsam can be used as the base for your newest compost pile.
    — Sally McCabe, Philly.com, 5 Apr. 2018
  • The tire reef is different from the usual flotsam, jetsam, lagan and derelict.
    — Hillary Davis, Daily Pilot, 19 Oct. 2017
  • Everything was saved by default, so all the flotsam and jetsam of daily work was captured in a sort of running ledger.
    — Ellen Cushing, The Atlantic, 12 Oct. 2021
  • As the snow melts into muck, little clusters of flotsam and jetsam emerge in the far corners of everyone’s yards.
    — Sally Higginson, chicagotribune.com, 7 Mar. 2018
  • Perfumers rely on jetsam ambergris that washes ashore; these little fatty blobs are worth thousands of dollars.
    — Kate Sullivan, refinery29.com, 20 Mar. 2020
  • And the Heat’s supporting players at the moment are far better than the flotsam and jetsam that currently are with the Bucks.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 30 Jan. 2026
  • An environmental envoi, perhaps, with Buzz washed up on a beach alongside other jetsam, or clogging the gullet of a whale?
    — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 21 June 2019
  • Maine has its share of hoarders, and one of the joys of traveling the state is to browse the flotsam and jetsam of human enterprise without feeling the pull to bring (almost) any of it into your own home.
    — James Sullivan, BostonGlobe.com, 27 June 2019
  • Alexander Dodge’s set, a jaunty playground of flotsam and jetsam, is strewn with cinema seats in a production that revels in the open theatricality of the play.
    — Charles McNulty, latimes.com, 26 June 2018
  • Shipping is also relatively infrequent there and, the authors write, there is no reason to think that flotsam or jetsam in the Arctic would be so much higher than in other parts of the world.
    — Tatiana Schlossberg, New York Times, 19 Apr. 2017
  • Coming up with a grand unifying theory on what separates the great Stephen King adaptations from the flotsam and jetsam that have washed onto shore the past three-plus decades isn't easy.
    — Scott Tobias, chicagotribune.com, 1 Sep. 2017
  • Ones with wide fields of view and sensitive detectors can easily spot these incoming bits of interplanetary jetsam and gather data on their brightness, size, speed and direction.
    — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 12 June 2026
  • The pragmatic, craftsmanlike approach Pagnol used to transform the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life into wondrous stories was one of the keys to his artistic achievement.
    — Kristin M. Jones, WSJ, 7 July 2017
  • 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, 27 Feb. 2018
  • The architectural jetsam of millennia mixes here; ancient, medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque share space along narrow, curving lanes.
    — Maria Shollenbarger, Travel + Leisure, 20 June 2022
  • But as such, antique stores and auction houses are also where the flotsam and jetsam of the worst aspects of material culture wash up — and continue to proliferate, even appreciating in value.
    — Sophie Haigney, Curbed, 11 Nov. 2021
  • Its receding waters are leaving behind the usual flotsam and jetsam of a lake heavily trafficked by weekend boaters — and even exposing a ship dating back to World War II.
    — CBS News, 5 July 2022

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

Last Updated: