A structured taxonomy enumerating the distinct mechanisms by which a system, process, or component can fail. Parameters: (1) failure mode — the specific way in which a component ceases to perform its intended function; (2) failure mechanism — the physical or logical process that produces the mode; (3) failure root cause — the underlying condition that initiates the mechanism. Persistence: codified through failure-modes-and-effects-analysis (FMEA), fault-tree analysis (FTA), safety databases, and incident investigation frameworks. [formal: modi-defectionis | substrate: mind | horizon: generations | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
failure-modes
A structured taxonomy enumerating the distinct mechanisms by which a system, process, or component can fail. Parameters: (1) failure mode — the specific way in which a component ceases to perform its intended function; (2) failure mechanis…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A taxonomy of the distinct ways a system, process, or component can fail — human-engineered for safety analysis, risk assessment, and resilience planning. Built to persist through failure-mode-and-effects-analysis (FMEA), fault-tree analysis, and incident post-mortems, providing structured vocabulary for diagnosing breakdowns.
Names and aliases
- failure-modesen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cms8comye00gt73fkl26ui8mdSERVES →
failure-modes (the taxonomy of failure ways) is designed and maintained for the sake of safety engineering — providing structured vocabulary that enables systematic risk assessment, FMEA, and resilience planning. Law 8d: for whose sake? failure-modes → safety-engineering.
Relations to this entry
- cmsivlvjw019vnobppdslp0pi← INSTANCE_OF
single-point-of-failure is a specific kind of failure mode: a point whose failure causes total system loss. Which-kind-of test: a competent speaker would call a single-point-of-failure 'a failure mode'.
Record identity
- Created
- Aug 2, 2026, 4:40 PM UTC
- Content hash
- 2b6e4e6e5c6c626fe2ede63f176112e5f32176a86d03b9cda97517b2dc686d0f