DDoS

American

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

adjective

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.

DDoS British

abbreviation

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of DDoS

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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

Federal authorities disrupted four large DDoS botnets, including Kimwolf, on March 19, following Google’s January action against Ipidea’s domains.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

A distributed denial of service attack - or DDoS for short - is an attempt to overload a website, which makes it hard to use or otherwise inaccessible..

From BBC • Aug. 13, 2024

"There appears to be a massive DDoS attack on X," Musk posted.

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

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023