outage
noun

- a period when a service, such as electricity, is not available

(Cambridge Dictionaries Online)

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Outage is an American English phrase from the early 20th century that is formed from the adverb "out" (not available) and the suffix –age, which is a word-forming element that notes an act, process or function. Outage was formed on the model of the word "shortage" (when something is in short supply).

Since outage usually refers to the interruption of a service, it is not used in every situation in which something stops working. For instance, you can experience a power outage or a computer network outage, but not a "car outage" or a "watch outage." In these cases, in English we tend to rely on verbs instead of nouns: My car broke down. My watch stopped working.

The suffix –age is added to several other words, usually verbs, to form nouns that you might commonly hear or read:

- blockage = something that stops something else passing through, or the act of stopping something passing through (He’s in the hospital because he’s suffering from blockage of the arteries)

- leakage = the act of leaking or the leak itself (We have leakage in the basement)

- footage = a piece of film (We took footage of the storm as it passed through)

- postage = the money you pay for sending letters or parcels through the post (How much was the postage?)

Note: we regret to inform you that the word sausage was not formed like these other words. Instead, it comes from the Old English "sawsyge" by way of the Old North French "saussiche" and Vulgar Latin "salsica," meaning seasoned with salt.

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SYNONYMS

suspension of operation, blackout (electricity), failure, interruption, downtime, disruption

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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation

"Our technicians are working to determine the cause of the outage."

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Thanks to Reinhard for suggesting today's word