ejecta

ejecta — noun

1. rock, dust, and other solid pieces that are blasted into the air or into space w

1.名詞C2
釋義

rock, dust, and other solid pieces that are blasted into the air or into space when a volcano erupts, a star explodes, or a meteor strikes a planet.

例句

After the volcano erupted, thick ejecta buried the small village under grey ash.

collocation: ejecta buried [place] under ash

The crater was ringed with ejecta thrown out by the meteor's violent impact.

collocation: ringed with ejecta from impact

同義詞
  • debris

    the everyday word for scattered broken pieces, with no scientific limit on the cause

  • tephra

    narrower: only the solid fragments thrown out by a volcano, not by space events

用法筆記

Ejecta is a Latin plural and normally works as a mass noun: in scientific writing it takes a plural verb ('the ejecta were dated to 1815') and has no separate '-s' plural form.

常見錯誤

❌The volcano spat out three ejectas.
✅The volcano spat out a huge amount of ejecta.
💡'ejecta' is already a plural form, so it never takes an '-s' and is not counted as 'one ejecta, two ejectas'.

2. waste matter that the body forces out, especially vomit, studied by doctors to w

2.名詞C2
釋義

waste matter that the body forces out, especially vomit, studied by doctors to work out what is wrong with a patient.

例句

The nurse collected a sample of the patient's ejecta after the violent vomiting stopped.

context clue: ejecta after vomiting

Dr. Samir studied the sick boy's ejecta and found tiny pieces of undigested food.

context clue: undigested food in the ejecta

同義詞
  • discharge

    a more general term for matter released from the body, not only vomit

  • vomit

    specifically the matter brought up from the stomach through the mouth

用法筆記

Mainly a clinical or old-fashioned medical term; everyday speakers say 'vomit' or 'what someone brought up' rather than this group word. Distinguish from sense 1, which is matter thrown out by volcanoes or explosions, not by the body.