The most common use of the term "beachcombing" may be to describe the recreational activity of finding curiosities that have washed in with the tide. These items include seashells, sea beans (drift seeds), driftwood, lumber, plastics, and all manner of things lost or discarded by seagoing vessels and fishing activities. Books have been written to aide the identification of these occasionally strange and well-traveled items. Sophisticated recreational beachcombers use knowledge of how storms, geography, ocean currents, and seasonal events determine the arrival and exposure of rare finds.

Beachcombing today more commonly refers to the act of scavenging (or literally, combing through debris) along beaches or in wharf areas for items of value that are floating in the water (floatsam) or that have washed up on shore (jetsam). A beachcomber is one who practices beachcombing. The term beachcomber may also refer to people who practices beachcombing as a lifestyle. The beachcomber lifestyle includes, in addition to searching for items of flotsam that may have value, becoming totally dependent upon coastal fishing of fish and shellfish, and often abandoning totally one's original culture and values.