Downtime

Quick meaning: Downtime is a noun meaning Time lost due to the failure of some system or machinery, such as a computer crash or power outage.

Meaning

Time lost due to the failure of some system or machinery, such as a computer crash or power outage.

More Meanings

1. A period of time when work or other activity is less intense or stops.
2. (chiefly Canada, US) A period of time set aside for relaxation and rest; leisure time, free time.

Example Sentences

I’ve been working all weekend. I need some downtime.

‘We need to use the downtime, when things are calm, to prepare for when things get serious in the decades to come,’ he [Demis Hassabis] has said. ‘The time we have now is valuable, and we need to make use of it.’

But scientists point to an unanticipated side effect: when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas.

A short internet outage might sound like a trifling matter – don’t we all need a little bit of time offline now and then? – but for many, the pervasiveness of the so-called “internet of things” meant downtime at Amazon affected their physical life as well as their digital one.

Word Forms

• downtimes
• down time
• down-time

Antonyms for downtime

Common opposites include uptime.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include outage, interrupt, interruption, disruption, judgment, blackout.

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