jettison

jettison
 
verb | JET-uh-sun
 
What It Means
 
When you jettison something, you get rid of it either because it is not needed or because it is impeding your progress or otherwise weighing you down.
 
// Now that the purchase of the building has been finalized, we'll revamp what we want to keep and jettison the rest.
 
// The approach of the storm forced them to jettison their vacation plans.

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Examples of JETTISON
 
“A 2017 study found that participants who wrote a to-do list before bed instead of journaling about their accomplishments fell asleep ‘significantly faster.’ … ‘The more specifically participants wrote their to-do list, the faster they subsequently fell asleep, whereas the opposite trend was observed when participants wrote about completed activities,’ the study authors wrote in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. They speculated that writing down tasks lets you jettison your worries, so you don’t need to think about them while trying to sleep.” — Tracy Swartz, The New York Post, 20 Jan. 2025

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Est. 1828

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verb

noun
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jettison
1 of 2
verb
jet·;ti·;son ;je-t;-s;n  -z;n
jettisoned; jettisoning; jettisons
Synonyms of jettison
transitive verb

1
: to get rid of as superfluous or encumbering : omit or forgo as part of a plan or as the result of some other decision
must be prepared to jettison many romantic notions
—Christopher Catling
2
: to drop (cargo) to lighten a ship's load in time of distress
3
: to drop from an aircraft or spacecraft in flight
jettisonable
;je-t;-s;-n;-b;l
-z;-
 adjective
jettison

2 of 2
noun
: a voluntary sacrifice of cargo to lighten a ship's load in time of distress


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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.”

Synonyms
Verb

discard
dump
unload
ditch
lose
Noun

removal
disposal
dumping
Examples of jettison in a Sentence
Verb
The captain gave orders to jettison the cargo.
They jettisoned the fuel and made an emergency landing.
We should jettison these old computers and get new ones.
They jettisoned plans for a vacation.
Noun
with his ship rapidly sinking, the captain ordered a last-ditch jettison of much of its cargo
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Verb
Despite those assertions, critical programs have already been jettisoned, and some experts say the fatality toll from the cuts will be up to 14 million preventable deaths.
—Kate Knibbs, Wired News, 9 July 2025
Journeyman Cooper Hummel, cut by Houston in spring training and jettisoned by two other clubs already this season, homered Tuesday to win a one-run game.
—Chandler Rome, New York Times, 26 June 2025
Noun
All the statehouse needs to do is jettison this one misguided provision.
—Jim Amann, Hartford Courant, 17 June 2025
And to be clear, this whole Flight of the Century thing isn't just a concept: the team is planning battery jettison tests for this summer, with a transatlantic UAV-recharging flight in 2014.
—IEEE Spectrum, 12 July 2012
Word History
Etymology
Noun and Verb

Middle English jetteson, from Anglo-French geteson, literally, action of throwing, from Latin jactation-, jactatio, from jactare — more at jet

First Known Use
Verb

1848, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of jettison was in the 15th century
See more words from the same century
Browse Nearby Words
jet thrust
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MLA
“Jettison.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jettison. Accessed 22 Jul. 2025.

jettison

verb
jet·;ti·;son ;jet-;-s;n, -;-z;n
1
: to throw goods overboard from a ship or aircraft especially to lighten it in distress
2
: discard entry 1 sense 2
jettison noun