DDoS

American  

[dee-daws, ‐-dos, dee-dee-oh-es] / ˈdiˈdɔs, ‐ˈdɒs, ˈdiˈdiˌoʊˈɛs /

adjective

1. pertaining to or being an incident in which a network of computers floods an online resource with high levels of unwanted traffic so that it is inaccessible to legitimate service requests.

   a DDoS attack.

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DDoS British  

abbreviation

1. distributed denial of service: a method of attacking a computer system by flooding it with so many messages that it is obliged to shut down

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Etymology

Origin of DDoS

1995–2000; D(istributed) D(enial) o(f) S(ervice)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

DDoS

When a DDoS attack happened, the Big Pipes wizards usually knew how the attack was being carried out and the software behind it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026

Christmas came and went without a DDoS disaster.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026

"Limiting the number of legitimate users isn't an ordinary mitigation for DDoS attacks and wouldn't usually help... so Mr Musk's own statement suggests that the platform might have been struggling with overall listener capacity."

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2024

Meanwhile Alp Toker, director of Netblocks, said the social media platform's explanation of how the issue was fixed "isn't particularly consistent" with a DDoS attack.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2024

A DDoS attack employs a network of distributed computers to direct junk traffic at the target site in an effort to render it unusable.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 12, 2023