ENGLISH
REFERENCE

outages

n. countable
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈaʊtɪdʒɪz// UK //ˈaʊtɪdʒɪz// out·ages

n. periods of time when a service, like electricity or the internet, stops working. These usually happen because of a storm, an accident, or repairs.

n. periods during which a service or utility, such as power or telecommunications, is unavailable for use. Often implies a temporary failure of a network or infrastructure.


SIMPLE

The storm caused several power outages in the city.

CONTEXTUAL

The hospital has backup generators to ensure that patient care continues during unexpected electricity outages.

COMPLEX

While scheduled maintenance accounts for some downtime, the majority of network outages are triggered by unforeseen hardware failures or severe weather events that damage physical infrastructure.

Synonyms
Usage

Commonly used in the plural to describe multiple events or a general state of service failure.

© 2026 English Reference