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Byzantine fault tolerance

Byzantine fault tolerance noun: the dependability of a fault-tolerant (distributed) computer system, where components may fail without perfect information about the state of the components.

Noun

Byzantine fault tolerance (usually uncountable, plural Byzantine fault tolerances)

  1. (usually) The dependability of a fault-tolerant (distributed) computer system, where components may fail without perfect information about the state of the components.
    • Byzantine fault tolerance (BFT) came about since it represents a valid solution to the Byzantine Generals Problem. BFT is a crucial part of an effective blockchain platform, and there are multiple ways in which tolerance can be implemented.2020, Joseph Holbrook, Architecting Enterprise Blockchain Solutions, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 121
    Synonyms:
    BFT

Synonyms of Byzantine fault tolerance

Forms of Byzantine fault tolerance

pluralByzantine fault tolerances

Origin of Byzantine fault tolerance

From an essay by American computer scientist Robert Shostak, who simplified the computing problem in a hypothetical siege by the Byzantine Empire. In the siege, a group of Byzantine generals, without central command and physically separated, need to vote to determine whether all troops should besiege the fortress or withdraw. Faults are metaphorized with traitors who could vote selectively and messengers delivering the votes, who could fail to deliver votes or forge them.

Questions about Byzantine fault tolerance

What does Byzantine fault tolerance mean?
Byzantine fault tolerance means the dependability of a fault-tolerant (distributed) computer system, where components may fail without perfect information about the state of the components.
What part of speech is Byzantine fault tolerance?
Byzantine fault tolerance is a noun.
What is the plural of Byzantine fault tolerance?
The plural of Byzantine fault tolerance is Byzantine fault tolerances.

Words near Byzantine fault tolerance in the dictionary

  1. byzantievite
  2. byzantine
  3. Byzantine attack
  4. Byzantine attacks
  5. Byzantine Empire
  6. Byzantine fault tolerance
  7. Byzantine fault tolerances
  8. Byzantine fire
  9. Byzantine Greek
  10. Byzantine Patriarch
  11. Byzantine Patriarchs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Byzantine fault tolerance (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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