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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Examples of detritus in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The small ridge created by the screen protector ends up being a trap for dust and other little bits of detritus.
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Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica, 23 Sep. 2024
Somewhere underneath the detritus was the town, buried and abandoned.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2024
Volunteer beach cleaner Russ Lewis holds detritus of shipping container spills washed up on Washington's Long Beach Peninsula in Pacific County, Wash., Monday, June 17, 2024.
—CBS News, 3 Oct. 2024
Moses would struggle cleaning up the Chip Kelly detritus.
—Los Angeles Times, 28 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for detritus 
Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica, 23 Sep. 2024
Somewhere underneath the detritus was the town, buried and abandoned.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2024
Volunteer beach cleaner Russ Lewis holds detritus of shipping container spills washed up on Washington's Long Beach Peninsula in Pacific County, Wash., Monday, June 17, 2024.
—CBS News, 3 Oct. 2024
Moses would struggle cleaning up the Chip Kelly detritus.
—Los Angeles Times, 28 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for detritus
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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“Detritus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/detritus. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.
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