showstopper

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Sat Jun 21 03:59:37 UTC 2014


  Lisa Galvin wrote
> In software development and testing "showstopper" is an official
> term for a priority-one defect/bug needing immediate attention.

Oxford Dictionaries (not OED) lists the relevant sense, and includes
the specialized software sense mentioned by Lisa Galvin.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/showstopper

showstopper noun

[Begin excerpt]
2. An obstacle to further progress: the subsidy limits proved to be a
showstopper for other senior Democrats who refused to pass the bill
with such restrictions

More example sentences
    The weather wasn't perfect, but I quickly was learning that what
had been a showstopper in the RAG was daily business in the fleet.
[End excerpt]

[Begin excerpt]
2.1 Computing A bug that needs to be fixed before a piece of software
can be used or released: there were several last minute showstoppers
that derailed the Beta 2 rollout

More example sentences
    There were a number of small bugs which weren't show stoppers but
concerned us nonetheless.
[End excerpt]


Merriam Webster lists the relevant sense:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/showstopper

[Begin excerpt]
3:  one that stops or could stop the progress, operation, or
functioning of something
[End excerpt]

Garson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list