scalability
n.n. the ability of a system or business to grow and handle more work without losing quality. You use this when talking about how well a plan can expand.
n. the capacity of a system, network, or process to handle a growing amount of work, or its potential to be enlarged to accommodate that growth.
The new software was designed with scalability in mind.
Investors are looking for startups that demonstrate high scalability, meaning they can increase revenue significantly without a matching increase in costs.
Cloud computing provides the infrastructure necessary for rapid scalability, allowing digital platforms to manage sudden spikes in user traffic without manual hardware upgrades.
Derived from the verb scale, from the Latin scala meaning ladder, combined with the suffix -ability. The term follows the standard English pattern for denoting a capacity for proportional adjustment.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Uncountable in its abstract sense; often used in technical, business, or computing contexts.
Last updated July 22, 2026