Idiom idiom
graceful degradation
Meaning
The ability of a system to maintain at least some of its functionality when portions are not working, or when certain features are not available.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The website uses graceful degradation to stay online during server errors.”
“Our software is designed for graceful degradation, so users can still read files even if the editing tools fail.”
“By prioritizing graceful degradation, the engineers ensured that the navigation system remained partially functional even after the primary satellite link suffered a critical failure.”
Anchors to
Last updated August 10, 2026