detritus

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Scattered waste, rubbish, or leftover fragments.

   After the festival, the field was covered in detritus.

2. 2
   noun

   Decaying organic matter from dead plants and animals.

   Tiny creatures feed on the detritus on the forest floor.

3. 3
   noun

   Loose rock fragments worn away from larger rocks.

   Glacial detritus had piled up at the foot of the mountain.

Learned borrowing from Latin dētrītus (“(that which is) rubbed away”), from dēterō (“rub away”).

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