cascading failure
Sequential system collapse
A cascading failure is a chain reaction where one component's breakdown triggers failures in connected systems.
The term comes from engineering and infrastructure: a power plant goes offline, overloading neighboring plants, which fail in turn, spreading blackouts across a grid.
A single transformer fire caused a cascading failure that left millions without power.
The concept applies wherever systems are interdependent—supply chains, computer networks, financial markets, ecosystems.
- dominoRectangular game piece
- house of cardsStructure prone to collapse
- collapseSudden structural failure
- blackoutComplete power loss
- rolling blackoutPlanned, sequential power interruptions
grid · overload · chain reaction · knock-on effect · systemic · meltdown · infrastructure · propagate · network · outage · system crash · ripple · breakdown · contagion · snowball · unravel · surge · interconnected
- power gridspower grid, transformer, substation, substations, transmission lines
- system failuressystem crash, outage, server crash, fatal error, blue screen
cascading failurefirewall
Network access control system
containment · circuit breaker · graceful degradation · fail-safe
cascading failuregraceful degradation
Maintaining function while failing
system stability · resilience · fault tolerance · self-healing · steady state
cascade, cascades, cascaded, cascading, fail, failed, failing, failure, failures