Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The scattered remains of something broken or destroyed; rubble or wreckage.
- n. Carelessly discarded refuse; litter.
- n. Geology An accumulation of relatively large rock fragments: glacial debris.
- n. Biology The fragmented remains of dead or damaged cells or tissue.
Wiktionary
Etymologies
- Borrowing from French débris, itself from dé- ("de-") + bris ("broken, crumbled"), or from Middle French debriser ("to break apart"), from Old French debrisier, itself from de- + brisier ("to break apart, shatter, bust"), from Frankish *brestan (“to break violently, shatter, bust”), from Proto-Germanic *brestanan (“to break, burst”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhrest- (“to separate, burst”). Cogante with Old High German bristan ("to break asunder, burst"), Old English berstan ("to break, shatter, burst"). More at burst. (Wiktionary)
- French débris, from Old French debrisier, to break to pieces : de-, intensive pref.; see de- + brisier, to break (from Vulgar Latin *brīsāre, to press grapes, probably of Celtic origin). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Instead, he found Moreland inside, apparently dead, half-buried in debris from a direct bomb hit on the operations center.”
“The flight dynamics folks stated that the debris is approximately 10 cm in size, 2.8 km in front of Atlantis, .15 km below and 3.9 km out of plane.”
“So there wasn't enough time to do what they call a debris avoidance maneuver.”
“Given that, in most shooters, you have to avoid these kinds of explosions to stay alive, it takes a while for you to realise that collecting this debris is a good idea.”
“MYERS: We have a lot of what we call debris in the air.”
“OVERALL: And this is -- I guess this is what they call the debris field.”
“The officer did not see the crash, which occurred about 9: 50 p.m., but came upon what he described as a debris cloud, police”
“The officer who was in pursuit just moments earlier did not see the crash, but came upon what he described as a debris cloud, said police”
“The satellite debris is projected to come within about half a mile of the space station early Tuesday.”
“Space debris is a current and growing threat to U.S. exploration activities, and leaders must make situational awareness a top national priority, AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey said in congressional testimony Tuesday.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘debris’.
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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US - war on terror
mirandize, heavily-guarded h..., capture, manhunt, shootout, bloodied, suspect, gunshot wound, citywide lockdown, house-by-house se..., intelligence oppo..., naturalized Ameri... and 463 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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FUN - gestures
There are thousands of sign languages and possibly millions of gestures in human communication but not all of them have a name. Some are understood everywhere, some are understood everywhere but di...
okay sign, abhayamudra, apology, beckoning sign, Bellamy salute, benediction, blessing, blah-blah, "check, please” sign, clenched fist, Chinese number ge..., Clinton thumb and 360 more...
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Steampunk
Words used quite often in steampunk
ansible, airship, chymical, valve, clockwork, dirigible, thaumaturgy, copper, bronze, difference engine, gear, rivets and 516 more...
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Unwanted matter
gangue, dross, slag, scoria, refuse, trash, cinder, ashes, leavings, recrement, debris, waste and 37 more...
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Hollow Land
hollow land, the final course, aged spire, unbraid, eternal bleeds, hollow nest, wild decadence, furrows snowy, egg on a queen’s ..., william blake, undiscovered grave, billow and 23 more...
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ebaysalvageyard
ebay, wood, carved, basket, ebay!, that's, expensive,, sold, junk, cheap, ripoff, snipe and 27 more...
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Barron's 1100 words you need to know ...
aegis, awesome, conflagration, congenial, debris, deplorable, detriment, dispersed, doddering, eruption, hoard, imbibe and 7 more...
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dharma66's list
words that pique my interest either by meaning, pronunciation, or spelling, and words that otherwise tickle my fancy!!
pique, elusive, serendipity, nefarious, redundant, pseudoscientific, obsequious, flack, quandary, impervious, perchance, translucent and 168 more...
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everythingecstatic's Words
cadence, frenetic, eloquence, paradigm, nocturne, elusive, effervescence, soliloquy, plethora, elision, aqueous, transcend and 166 more...
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Wordplay
reticent, slammerkin, moonstruck, zephyr, gallivant, hullabaloo, pandemonium, equestrian, wallflower, martyr, threadbare, treacherous and 180 more...
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Words I like
This is a list of my favourite words (phrases) in english, as a second language. I love them mostly because of how they sound and their meaning.
ninja, cookie, skill, zip, plentiful, digg, debris, pancake, cucumber, fetch, pot, backpack and 461 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 997 more...
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Lees
Items of little or no value that are left behind by physical or biological processes other than passing through an alimentary canal. See also Valse's Leftovers and reesetee's Hogwash! for other tak...
lees, dross, dregs, orts, debris, jetsam, flotsam, rubbage, rubbish, trash, refuse, junk and 130 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for debris.
dontcry Mazel! Aug 5, 2008
sionnach What de mohel gives de boychild. Aug 4, 2008
qroqqa BrE speakers strongly prefer stress on the initial syllable (either /'deb-/ or /'deɪb-/) to final /-'briː/ (83% in a 2007 survey for the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary). Aug 4, 2008