How to Use detritus in a Sentence

detritus

noun
  • As he packed, he sifted through the detritus of a failed relationship.
  • Trash, including bottles and other detritus could be seen strewn on the ground near the back of the black sedan.
    Alex Riggins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Nov. 2020
  • City sidewalks these days hold the detritus of countless lives, with all manner of stuff, good and bad, abandoned in piles.
    Chronicle Staff, SFChronicle.com, 26 Dec. 2020
  • Zeta’s powerful storm surge also left mats of marsh grass and other detritus well inland.
    Bryn Stole, NOLA.com, 29 Oct. 2020
  • Not all robot vacuums can collect the same amount of debris and detritus before needing to be emptied out.
    Carsen Joenk, Popular Science, 18 Dec. 2020
  • Little bits of detritus called marine snow collects here, which likely provides food for the hatchlings, Lombardo says.
    Douglas Main, Animals, 18 Dec. 2020
  • In a matter of seconds, a robotic arm will stir up the regolith with nitrogen gas and then sweep the floating detritus into its grasp, before the spacecraft returns to its orbit.
    Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 20 Oct. 2020
  • That regime now lies in shambles, collapsed within the larger detritus of Donald Trump’s presidency.
    Casey Michel, The New Republic, 23 Dec. 2020
  • There's a four-block stretch of art in the McDougall-Hunt district, on the east side of Detroit, formed from the detritus of a century's worth of homes.
    Leslie Pariseau, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Oct. 2020
  • Rational order rubs against irrational desire, accidental consumption and inevitable loss, while the detritus gets returned to the trash when the show ends.
    Los Angeles Times, 10 Nov. 2020
  • And uncooperative vacuums, wobbly tables and ripped jeans about to make their way to the landfill — all of the detritus of modern life, actually.
    Paige Darrah, New York Times, 23 Oct. 2020
  • All the detritus of racial capitalism, trailing without inhibition its paltry, intimidating boast while the world burns.
    Jacqueline Rose, The New York Review of Books, 5 Nov. 2020
  • Among the detritus cleared from gutters and lawns are the future of the state’s forests.
    Justin Wm. Moyer, Washington Post, 12 Nov. 2023
  • And now for the detritus of a 100-loss season: Who inevitably takes the fall?
    Evan Grant, Dallas News, 3 Oct. 2021
  • Track detritus to right of us In line with sand castle to left.
    Pioneer Press, Twin Cities, 27 Jan. 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
  • But for those who have time to search through the detritus, a hidden gem may await you: A pair of 9.5-size turquoise high heels.
    Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 31 Aug. 2023
  • 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
  • As the water streams in, so does the detritus of the city—packets of chips, beer bottles, medicine boxes and the odd flip-flop.
    Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Dec. 2022
  • The surfaces of the suite are strewn with the remnants of swag-bag assembly and the detritus of living with teenagers.
    Lucy Feldman, Time, 10 July 2023
  • The tarmac is lined with the detritus of those who had run the gauntlet and succeeded.
    Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2021
  • Alongside the bones, Mouer found detritus - 25 leather shoes, olive green glass bottles, the remains of three dogs and a cat.
    CBS News, 11 Apr. 2022
  • 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
  • That scene of beach detritus—the conference of shells—lodged itself in my brain.
    Laura Bannister, Vogue, 21 Mar. 2022
  • 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
  • Oak Ridge sprang to life from ground littered with the detritus of uprooted lives.
    Denise Kiernan, Rolling Stone, 17 July 2023
  • Pizza Rat exists on my phone amid the detritus of a more hopeful life.
    Han Ong, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023
  • That’s largely thanks to ranchers and farmers, who clear-cut the forest and burn the detritus to make way for crops and cattle.
    Matt Simon, Wired, 7 Mar. 2022
  • That detritus can be placed on a separate barge and be taken to shore, where it will be recycled.
    Hayes Gardner, Baltimore Sun, 27 Mar. 2024
  • At least three large garbage trucks were visible at the Diag, presumably moving away detritus of the encampment.
    Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, 21 May 2024

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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