Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Detritus
1.
(Geol.)
A mass of substances worn off from solid bodies by attrition, and reduced to small portions;
as, diluvial
. detritus
☞ For large portions, the word débris is used.
2.
Hence: Any fragments separated from the body to which they belonged; any product of disintegration.
The mass of
detritus
of which modern languages are composed. Farrar.
Webster 1828 Edition
Detritus
DETRITUS
,Noun.
Definition 2024
detritus
detritus
See also: détritus
English
Noun
detritus (usually uncountable, plural detritus or detrita)
- (countable, chiefly geological) pieces of rock broken off by ice, glacier, or erosion.
- (biology) Organic waste material from decomposing dead plants or animals.
- debris or fragments of disintegrated material
- 2001. "But of course: no clutter. No newspapers, no renegade scraps of domestic detritus, no rubber bands, paper clips, coupons, pens or pencils, notebooks, magazines. No knives. Where were the knives?" — Chip Kidd. The Cheese Monkeys
Derived terms
Translations
geologicy: pieces of rock broken off
debris or fragments of disintegrated material
Latin
Etymology
From dēterō (“rub away”), from dē (“away”) + terō (“rub”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /deːˈtriː.tus/
Participle
dētrītus m (feminine dētrīta, neuter dētrītum); first/second declension
- rubbed away, worn away, worn out, having been rubbed away
- (figuratively) diminished in force, lessened, weakened, impaired, having been weakened
- (figuratively) worn out, trite, hackneyed, having been worn out
Inflection
First/second declension.
| Number | Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case / Gender | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| nominative | dētrītus | dētrīta | dētrītum | dētrītī | dētrītae | dētrīta | |
| genitive | dētrītī | dētrītae | dētrītī | dētrītōrum | dētrītārum | dētrītōrum | |
| dative | dētrītō | dētrītō | dētrītīs | ||||
| accusative | dētrītum | dētrītam | dētrītum | dētrītōs | dētrītās | dētrīta | |
| ablative | dētrītō | dētrītā | dētrītō | dētrītīs | |||
| vocative | dētrīte | dētrīta | dētrītum | dētrītī | dētrītae | dētrīta | |
Noun
dētrītus m (genitive dētrītūs); fourth declension
- The act of rubbing away
Inflection
Fourth declension.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | dētrītus | dētrītūs |
| genitive | dētrītūs | dētrītuum |
| dative | dētrītuī | dētrītibus |
| accusative | dētrītum | dētrītūs |
| ablative | dētrītū | dētrītibus |
| vocative | dētrītus | dētrītūs |
Related terms
Descendants
References
- detritus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- detritus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- Félix Gaffiot (1934), “detritus”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.