fail-deadly
/ˌfeɪlˈdɛdli/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.03 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of a nuclear weapons strategy: encouraging deterrence by guaranteeing an automatic, immediate, and overwhelming response to an attack, even if the command-and-control infrastructure has been damaged by the enemy's first strike.
Example Sentences
- "One, admittedly extreme, means of reducing the impact of a command, control, and communication failure would be the adoption of a "fail deadly" mode of operation. For example, as opposed to requiring a positive signal to proceed on to target after launch-on-warning, airplanes might be permitted to continue until a negative recall signal were received. The risk of unauthorized action would be increased, as would the danger of accidental or inadvertent war due to equipment malfunction."
- "If one were to assume a more traditional Realist image of human fallibility, then one's confidence in the safety of the elaborate nuclear "fail deadly" deterrence order might not be so sanguine."
- "[F]ail-deadly is a concept from nuclear military strategy, suggesting deterrence by an immediate and forceful response to an attack. It is interesting to investigate what differentiates these two design approaches to security protocols, and what they have in common when we consider a family of protocols where both fail-safe and fail-deadly versions are considered."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)gʷʰh₂el-der. Proto-Italic *falsō? Classical Latin fallere Vulgar Latin *fallīre Old French falirbor. Middle English failen English fail Proto-Indo-European *dʰew-der. Proto-Germanic *dawjaną Proto-Germanic *daudaz Proto-West Germanic *daud Old English dēad Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-West Germanic *-līk Old English -līċ Old English dēadlīċ Middle English dedly English deadly English fail-deadly From fail (verb) + deadly, modelled on fail-safe.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌfeɪlˈdɛdli/
- British English: /ˌfeɪlˈdɛdli/