Detritus    (pronounced dih-try-tus) noun


Definition

1. loose material resulting from the wearing away of rock or the decomposition of organic matter; a product of disintegration or erosion.   2. any kind of debris; miscellaneous items that are vestiges or have accumulated over time.

Main Example

  • WorldCom may indeed be history, but from the detritus of that bankrupt giant is rising a new and much stronger MCI which, shorn of the billions of dollars of WorldCom debt, is giving Verizon and other major long distance carriers much cause for worry.

    Workplace Examples

  • Sure, we had a bad year because none of our marketing campaigns met expectations. But I'll tell you this: By sifting through the detritus of those endeavors, we can gain a lot of valuable insight into consumer behavior!

    Learn to Disarm and Neutralize your Critics and Detractors.

  • I am now 83, and I still have stuff from my high school days! I'll bet it will take not one or two but several garage sales to get rid of all the detritus of my life.

    Other Examples

  • computers, phone systems, furniture and other items from the detritus of the dot.com bust selling for just a few cents on the dollar

  • the "Jerry Springer" and other afternoon talk shows being described disapprovingly by some prominent Americans as a window into "the detritus of our society"

  • two years ago, the U.S. military combing through the detritus of the heavy bombing at Tora Bora to determine if Osama bin Laden had been killed; archaeologists minutely studying the detritus of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization to learn more about that advanced culture

  • as the first World Trade Center tower began collapsing, the flow and density of the resulting detritus being of such magnitude as to lift some bystanders off the ground and carry them a couple of blocks away

    © 2004 V.J. Singal

    This Month's Other Words

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    Dispassionate
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