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Technical Vocabularynoun · /ˈʌptaɪm/

uptime

In simple English

In tech workplaces, uptime is a critical performance metric that indicates system reliability. A service with 99.9% uptime means it is unavailable for only about 43 minutes per month. Companies track uptime closely because downtime directly affects user experience, revenue, and customer trust. DevOps and infrastructure teams are often measured by their ability to maintain high uptime, and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) often guarantee minimum uptime percentages to customers.

What is uptime and how is it calculated in software systems?

At a glanceCEFR B2
Commonness5/5
Versatility4/5
FormalityCasualFormalNeutral
Spoken ↔ WrittenSpokenWrittenBoth
Directness ↔ DiplomaticDirectDiplomaticDirect
RegionUS and UK
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Say it like this

✓We achieved 99.9% uptime this month.
✓The server downtime affected our uptime metrics.
✓We need to improve our uptime on the API service.

Real examples

in a standup

"Yesterday we had a brief outage that brought our uptime down from 99.95% to 99.87%."

in a team meeting

"Our SLA guarantees 99.99% uptime, so we cannot afford another unplanned outage this quarter."

in a status report

"The new caching layer improved uptime by reducing server load during peak traffic hours."

Don't say this

Handle with care. Uptime is a noun only. Do not use it as a verb (saying 'we need to uptime the server' is incorrect). It refers to a measurement of availability, not an action.

✕We need to uptime the infrastructure before launch.
✓We need to improve uptime for the infrastructure before launch.— Uptime is a noun, not a verb. Use phrases like 'improve uptime' or 'ensure uptime' instead.
✕The service has 100% uptime every day.
✓The service maintains 99.99% uptime over rolling monthly periods.— 100% uptime is unrealistic. Use more realistic percentages like 99.9% or 99.99%.
✕Uptime refers to how fast the server responds.
✓Uptime refers to how long the server remains available and operational.— Uptime measures availability, not speed. Response time or latency measures speed.

Other forms

noun

uptime

"We monitored the uptime of all production servers throughout the week."

noun modifier

uptime (as modifier)

"The uptime percentage is displayed on our monitoring dashboard."

Often used with

achieve uptimeUsed when a system reaches or maintains a certain uptime percentage
uptime percentageThe metric expressed as a percentage (e.g., 99.99%)
guarantee uptimeUsed in SLAs to promise minimum uptime to customers
improve uptimeTo increase the reliability and availability of a system
uptime SLAService Level Agreement that specifies uptime commitments

Similar words

availabilityMore general term; uptime is a specific measurement of availability
system reliabilityBroader concept; uptime is one metric used to measure reliability

Opposites

downtimeoutage

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Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Pick the most natural phrasing

1. Your manager asks about system reliability. Which sounds most natural?

Complete the sentence

2. Our SLA guarantees 99.9% _______ for all customer-facing services.

Spot the mistake

3. Which sentence uses uptime incorrectly?

Rewrite naturally

4. Rewrite using uptime: 'The service was available 99.9% of the time during the past month.'

Questions

Quick poll

Have you said "uptime" in a standup this week?

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