Christopher Catling
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The Origin of Jettison
Jettison comes from the Anglo-French noun geteson (literally “action of throwing”), and ultimately from the Latin verb jactare, meaning “to throw.” The noun jettison refers to a voluntary sacrifice of cargo to lighten a ship’s load in time of distress, and is the source of the word jetsam, the word for goods that are so jettisoned; that word is often paired with flotsam (“floating wreckage”). These days you don’t have to be on a sinking ship to jettison something: the verb also means simply “to get rid of.”
Examples of jettison in a Sentence
Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 July 2025
Trump seeks to jettison what has been the widespread understanding that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment confers citizenship on virtually everyone born on US soil.
—Alicia Adamczyk, Fortune, 28 June 2025
Roshane Thomas, New York Times, 18 June 2025
All the statehouse needs to do is jettison this one misguided provision.
—Jim Amann, Hartford Courant, 17 June 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Jettison.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jettison. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
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