Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

denial-of-service

American  
[dih-nahy-uhl-uhv-sur-vis] / dɪˈnaɪ əl əvˈsɜr vɪs /

adjective

Digital Technology.
  1. pertaining to or being an incident in which a computer or computer network is disabled, disrupting access or service.

    a website hit by a denial-of-service attack; unintentional denial-of-service problems.


Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of denial-of-service

First recorded in 1970–75

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.

See Examples For:

Also, a Ukrainian online bank said it fought off a massive distributed denial-of-service attack on Tuesday.

From Seattle Times Dec. 12, 2023

It’s not entirely clear how far-reaching the damage of the attacks has been, but the combination of ransomware and distributed denial-of-service seems to have had a fairly profound impact on day-to-day life in the country.

From Slate Sep. 12, 2022

On Saturday, it withdrew the remaining free services, which fend off denial-of-service attacks and speed content delivery by making copies of the site in many locations.

From Washington Post Sep. 3, 2022

On Feb. 15 and 16, Ukrainian banks suffered major denial-of-service attacks, meaning their websites were rendered inaccessible.

From New York Times Mar. 18, 2022

Among the threats they are preparing for: ransomware and malware attacks; denial-of-service attacks that take down websites; and data wiping and theft, possibly simultaneously.

From Reuters Feb. 27, 2022

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training