outage

American  

[ou-tij] / ˈaʊ tɪdʒ /

noun

outages plural

1. an interruption or failure in the supply of power, especially electricity.

2. the period during which power is lost.

   a two-hour outage on the East Coast.

3. a stoppage in the functioning of a machine or mechanism due to a failure in the supply of power or electricity.

4. the quantity of goods lost or lacking from a shipment.

5. Aeronautics. the amount of fuel used during a flight.

---

outage British  

/ ˈaʊtɪdʒ /

noun

1. a quantity of goods missing or lost after storage or shipment

2. a period of power failure, machine stoppage, etc

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• outages
  plural

Etymology

Origin of outage

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05; out + -age

Explanation

An outage is a sudden interruption in a service. An internet outage means you'll have to wait to watch your favorite show online. You may experience a power outage during a hurricane or snowstorm, when you can’t flip on the lights or use the microwave until crews repair the electrical lines. A computer network or server outage can have many causes (sometimes these are scheduled breaks in service, allowing maintenance to be done). Outages can be annoying and inconvenient, or even dangerous. The American coinage outage, first used in 1903, was modeled on shortage.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

outage outages

"No go at Gatwick for thousands after water outage with loos blocked up and taps all off," reads the Metro's lead story, under the headline "Fly and dry".

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

“I don’t have any radar,” a Newark controller told a flight crew during the outage, “and I can’t protect you.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

In one example, a power outage in 2025 delayed progress for 141 days.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

The same storm caused a GPS outage during a critical planting time in the Dakotas and northern Minnesota that cost farmers an estimated $1 billion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

Believing the outage was evidence of the Martian invasion, some townspeople packed up their families to escape into the mountains.

From "Spooked!" by Gail Jarrow

In some areas, videos containing false information about power outages prompted residents to panic buy emergency supplies.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

Brown tree snakes have driven many of Guam's native forest birds to local extinction, and they cause hundreds of power outages each year by climbing utility poles and electrical equipment.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026

According to Down Detector, which tracks outages, tens of thousands of people have reported problems globally, external with the service - although some reported they were able to get back online since.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

Residents at the time reported sporadic outages after the troops left.

From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026

Of course, the problem with getting haircuts in the trading center was the frequent power outages that plagued the country.

From "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" by William Kamkwamba

Related Words

• blackout
• brownout
• disruption
• interruption