MEANING
1. To throw cargo, equipment, or another load from a vessel or vehicle to lighten it or remove a hazard.
2. To discard a plan, belief, practice, or other commitment considered burdensome or no longer useful.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- jettison cargo
- jettison ballast
- jettison equipment
On the page
The master ordered them to jettison the cargo before the next wave reached the deck.
They jettisoned the damaged tank rather than risk another leak near the engines.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- jettison
- Past tense
- jettisoned
- Past participle
- jettisoned
- Present participle
- jettisoning
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- jettison
- Present continuous
- am/is/are jettisoning
- Present perfect
- have/has jettisoned
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been jettisoning
- Past
- jettisoned
- Past continuous
- was/were jettisoning
- Past perfect
- had jettisoned
- Past perfect continuous
- had been jettisoning
- Future
- will jettison
- Future continuous
- will be jettisoning
- Future perfect
- will have jettisoned
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been jettisoning
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: jettison; jettisons; jettisoned; jettisoned; jettisoning Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: jettisons.
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