Terminology

2205 terms, tools, patterns and metrics an architect is expected to use precisely. Each one gets a short explanation of what it is, and — where it matters — what it is commonly confused with. Search filters as you type; the column headers sort.

All areas2205 Architecture Fundamentals77 Distributed Systems107 Data Architecture110 Cloud Architecture94 Networking88 API & Integration Architecture82 Reliability & Resilience75 Observability70 Performance & Capacity Engineering72 Security Architecture86 Cost Architecture & FinOps71 Business Architecture67 Architecture Communication67 Enterprise Architecture66 Legacy Modernization71 AI-Era Architecture69 Software Architecture & Engineering71 Architecture Patterns71 Architecture Decision-Making63 The Architect's Meta-Skills61 Delivery & Release Engineering66 Platform Engineering & Developer Experience70 Testing & Quality Architecture66 Data Platform Architecture64 Streaming & Real-Time Data69 Data Governance & Semantics69 Frontend & Experience Architecture66 Edge, Mobile & IoT68 Regulatory & Data Protection Architecture65 Assurance, Audit & Model Risk64

Kind Any concept794 practice734 pattern368 metric125 case-study77 tool62 protocol45

4 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Fallback Independence	practice	Graceful Degradation	The requirement that a degraded path fail independently of the primary - and be exercised continuously, because fallbacks that are never run do not work.
Feature Criticality Tiering	practice	Graceful Degradation	Classifying product functionality by whether it must work, should work, or can be dropped, so degradation decisions are made in advance by the business.
Graceful Degradation in Practice	pattern	Graceful Degradation	Deliberately reducing functionality to preserve the core when a dependency fails — a product decision expressed in architecture.
Value-Graduated Fallback Tiered Degradation by Stake, Risk-Weighted Fallback	pattern	Graceful Degradation	A degradation ladder whose depth depends on the value at stake, so a low-value transaction proceeds on weak signals while a high-value one fails closed - replacing a single binary decision that is always wrong…