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debris

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debris

  • /ˈdɛbɹi/ UK
  • /ˈdeɪbɹi/ UK
  • /dəˈbɹiː/ Australia, New Zealand, US

Rhymes with -ɛbɹi, -iː

Where it comes from

Borrowed from French débris, itself from dé- (“de-, off-”) + 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 *bristijan, *bristan, *brestan (“to break violently, shatter, bust”), from Proto-Germanic *brestaną (“to break, burst”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrest- (“to separate, burst”). Cognate with Old High German bristan (“to break asunder, burst”), Old English berstan (“to break, shatter, burst”), German bersten (“to burst”). Related to burst.

noun débris

  1. uncountable Rubble, wreckage, scattered remains of something destroyed. His neighbors were still ripping out debris. But Mr. Ryan, a retired bricklayer who built his house by hand 30 years ago only to lose most of it to Hurricane Sandy, was already hard at work rebuilding.

    Similar: detritus

  2. uncountable Litter and discarded refuse. [The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].

    Similar: cultch, crap, debris, dreck, drek, garbage, gash, junk, litter, pelf, piece of crap, piece of garbage

  3. uncountable Large rock fragments left by a melting glacier etc.

Similar: debris, detritus, remains, ruins, rubbish, rubble, wreckage

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: rubble, junk, dust, detritus, scrap, garbage, fragment, fragmentation, breakage, slash, fouling, wreckage, grime, wreck, ruin, waste

noun

Similar: debris, detritus, remains, ruins, rubbish, rubble, wreckage

Translations

Every language

noun rubble, wreckage, scattered remains of something destroyed

Españolescombros, restos, detritus, detrito, detritos, escombro
한국어잔해 janhae
日本語残骸 zangai
中文殘骸 /残骸 cánhái, 瓦礫 /瓦砾 wǎlì, 碎片 suìpiàn
हिन्दीमलबा malbā
Portuguêsdestroços, detritos
Françaisdébris
DeutschTrümmer, Schutt, Ruinen, Geröll
Italianomacerie, rovine
Ελληνικάσυντρίμμια syntrímmia
Русскийобло́мки oblómki, разва́лины razváliny
Tiếng Việtmảnh vụn
العربيةرُكام rukām

noun litter and discarded refuse

Españolbasura, cachureo
中文垃圾 lājī, lèsè, 廢棄物 /废弃物 fèiqìwù
हिन्दीमलबा malbā, अवशेष avśeṣ
Portuguêslixo, restos
DeutschMüll
Русскийму́сор músor, лом lom, обло́мки oblómki

noun large rock fragments left by a melting glacier etc.

Españolfragmentos glaciares, morrena
中文岩屑, 碎石堆
Portuguêsmoreia, morena
DeutschGeröll

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Cite this
MLA

"debris." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/debris. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

debris. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/debris

Chicago

"debris." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/debris.

BibTeX
@misc{debris_2026,
  title = {debris},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/debris},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}