Fault-tolerant
adj.resilient, capableprofessional
What it means
Able to keep working when one part fails.
Reach for it when describing engineered continuity under a defined component failure
A fault-tolerant network kept emergency calls connected.
Choose between these
7- playful
self-healing
the system repairs certain failures automatically
not when Self-healing is stronger and requires a recovery mechanism.
- everyday
general reliability is enough for nontechnical readers
not when Dependable hides the architecture behind continuity.
- everyday
performance holds under difficult conditions
not when Robust can mean merely strong and may not survive an actual fault.
- professional
failure should lead to a safe condition
not when Fail-safe systems may stop instead of continuing service.
- professional
high-availability
measured uptime is the user-facing requirement
not when High availability can rely on rapid repair without tolerating every fault.
- professional
redundant
duplicate components provide a backup path
not when Redundancy is a method, not proof that failover works.
- professional
recovery across varied disruptions matters broadly
not when Resilient does not specify continued operation during a fault.
Said against
3- fragile
- single-point-dependent
- failure-prone
It naturally appears in
3- fault-tolerant system
The hospital uses a fault-tolerant system for patient alerts.
- fault-tolerant design
Fault-tolerant design keeps one broken sensor from stopping the line.
- fault-tolerant architecture
The review tested each claim in the fault-tolerant architecture.
Where this comes from
- wiktionary, English computing adjective sense: able to operate despite component failure opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26
The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.