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Glite Dictionary
junkyard

junkyard

54 3.5
A place where old cars and metal are kept to sell for parts or recycling
  • noun
  • /ˈdʒʌŋkˌjɑrd/
  • US
translation icon : desguace (España)
  • The mechanic found a rare part in the old junkyard that helped him finish the restoration work.
  • auto junkyard

I'm going to go to probably an auto junkyard to find my radiator.

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Examples

  • Every night around twelve, Mr. Earl would be out in his junkyard welding.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • We'll meet at the junkyard and go from there.

    Mystery Men (1999)

  • And so it looks like it's been in a junkyard for a long time.

  • "Yeah, I went to the junkyard yesterday and got some new parts for my bike."

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Your car, on the other hand, just gets older and one step closer to the junkyard.

    Academic text (2009)

  • His dad has a junkyard behind their house in Market Overton.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • As he nears the junkyard and road, he sees the hospital sign.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • "Back in the forties," he says, "this junkyard was used as a POW camp."

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Set up in an old ironworks, the place looks like a cross between an auto junkyard and an armory.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • We pulled an old Saturn V out of the Apollo junkyard and went over it with calipers and micrometers.

    Fiction book (2001)

Synonyms

scrapyard
vsjunkyard
5 2.8

A place where people keep old cars and machines to take parts and sell metal

stores discarded items mainly for resale or recycling rather than dismantling
boneyard
vsjunkyard
  • US
2 8.0

A place where old vehicles or machines are kept and left to rust

keeps discarded items for later resale or recycling instead of abandonment
scrapheap
vsjunkyard
1 5.4

A pile of old broken metal and other things kept to be thrown away

emphasizes collecting items for resale or recycling rather than disposal

How Big

landfill
  • Specialized
73 3.5
junkyard
  • US
54 3.5
dumpster
  • US
190 2.7
bin
119 1.0

Surface Forms

junkyard singular
junkyards plural

Morphology

junkyard = junk + yard (transparent) = junk + yard

The meaning is directly the combination of 'junk' (discarded items) + 'yard' (an area for storage), so learners can derive the sense.

Etymology

Junkyard comes from two simple parts: junk, meaning 'old or useless things' (the same 'junk' in 'junk mail'), and yard, meaning 'an open area'. So a junkyard is an open place where old cars and scrap metal are kept to be sold or recycled.