debris

CEFRC1

/ˈdɛbɹi/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    Scattered pieces left after something is destroyed or broken.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Large rock fragments left by a melting glacier etc.

Examples

  • Emergency teams are still clearing the debris from the plane crash.

  • First they saw the debris then they looked at each other.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˈdeɪbɹi/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Litter and discarded refuse.

  2. Rubble, wreckage, scattered remains of something destroyed.

More examples

In context

  • The cupboards were overflowing with the accumulated debris of several years.

  • 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.

  • Melissa Foley clears debris in her neighborhood as the San Lorenzo River rises in Felton on Saturday, January 14.

Synonyms

Quick test

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After the explosion, the street was covered with dangerous blank.

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Nearby

Origin

noun

Borrowed 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 *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”). More at burst.