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single point of failure.

Noun
Sci-FiSettingTechnical
MEANING

A component, dependency, or link whose failure can cause a whole system or essential function to fail.

Use it for

one vulnerable dependency threatening a large system; an unbacked link in life-support or navigation; structural fragility distinguished from a merely faulty part

Words that belong together

  • remove a single point of failure
  • identify a single point of failure

On the page

The shared power feed remained a single point of failure despite the duplicate pumps.
She identified a single point of failure in the route all emergency messages used.

Related words

critical unbacked dependencycommon-mode failure (related)redundancy
Word forms
Base
single point of failure

Explore related collections

Science-fiction vocabulary

Usage notes

Primary category: sci-fi. Forms: Singular single point of failure; plural single points of failure. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.

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