1. wreckage of a ship or its cargo found floating on or washed up by the sea
Usage: nautical
2. people or things that have been rejected and are regarded as worthless
Usage: figurative

Examples

• The beach was littered with flotsam from the shipwreck.
• Pieces of flotsam washed ashore after the storm.
• The harbor collected flotsam and jetsam from passing vessels.
• She felt like flotsam, drifting aimlessly through life.
• The city’s flotsam gathered in the abandoned warehouse.
• Rescue workers searched through the flotsam for survivors.