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Technical Vocabularynoun · /ˈmɛsɪdʒ ˈbroʊkər/

message broker

In simple English

A message broker sits between producers and consumers of messages in a distributed system. Instead of services talking directly to each other, they send messages to the broker, which then routes those messages to the appropriate destinations. This decoupling makes systems more flexible and scalable. In real tech workplaces, message brokers are essential infrastructure for microservices architectures, real-time data processing, and event-driven systems. Common examples include RabbitMQ, Apache Kafka, and AWS SQS. Engineers discuss message brokers when designing systems that need to handle asynchronous communication, ensure message delivery, and manage high-volume data flows. The broker ensures that messages are reliably delivered, even if the receiving service is temporarily unavailable. It also allows multiple services to subscribe to the same messages and enables complex routing patterns, making it fundamental to modern distributed system design.

Understand what a message broker is, how it works in distributed systems, and why it is critical for asynchronous communication in microservices.

At a glanceCEFR C1
Commonness4/5
Versatility4/5
FormalityCasualFormalNeutral
Spoken ↔ WrittenSpokenWrittenBoth
Directness ↔ DiplomaticDirectDiplomaticDirect
RegionUS and UK
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Say it like this

✓We need to set up a message broker for this architecture
✓The message broker is handling thousands of messages per second
✓Let us use a message broker to decouple these services

Real examples

in a standup

"We configured our message broker yesterday to handle the increased traffic from the new feature release."

in a code review

"This service publishes events to the message broker instead of calling the API directly, which improves resilience."

in a team meeting

"Our message broker went down for maintenance, so we need to implement circuit breakers in our consumer services."

Don't say this

Handle with care. Do not confuse with a financial broker. A message broker is software infrastructure, not a person or service that trades assets.

✕We need to message broker the data between services.
✓We need to use a message broker to handle communication between services.— Message broker is a noun, not a verb. You use or implement a message broker, not message broker something.
✕The message broker is a person who manages our messaging system.
✓The message broker is software infrastructure that routes messages between services.— A message broker is not a person. It is a piece of technology. Do not confuse it with a human broker.
✕We send messages directly through the message broker to each service.
✓We send messages to the message broker, which routes them to the appropriate services.— Messages go to the broker first, and the broker then decides where to send them. You do not send directly through it to services.

Other forms

noun

message broker

"The message broker ensures reliable message delivery across our microservices."

noun

message brokers (plural)

"We use multiple message brokers in different regions for fault tolerance."

noun phrase

message broker infrastructure

"Our message broker infrastructure processes millions of events daily."

Often used with

set up a message brokerUsed when deploying or configuring a message broker for the first time
message broker clusterMultiple message broker instances working together for high availability
message broker topologyThe configuration and layout of message brokers in a system
publish to a message brokerSending messages to the message broker from a producer service
message broker latencyThe delay introduced by the message broker in message processing

Similar words

message queueOften used interchangeably, but message queue is more focused on the queue data structure, while message broker is the broader system
event busSimilar concept focused on broadcasting events to multiple subscribers
middlewareBroader term for software that connects applications; message broker is a specific type of middleware

Opposites

direct service-to-service communicationsynchronous RPC callspoint-to-point messaging without a broker

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Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Complete the sentence

1. We use a _______ to handle asynchronous communication between our microservices.

Spot the mistake

2. Which sentence uses message broker correctly?

Pick the most natural phrasing

3. Your team needs to improve communication between services. What do you say?

Rewrite naturally

4. Rewrite using message broker: 'We need software that sits between our services and sends messages from one to another.'

Questions

Quick poll

Have you said "message broker" in a standup this week?

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