denial-of-service

[ dih-nahy-uhl-uhv-sur-vis ]

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 Words From

• denial of service noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of denial-of-service¹

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

Soon after, WikiLeaks went down for ten days after an onslaught of denial-of-service attacks.

From The Daily Beast