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Failover / Fail over

Different forms

Use failover as a noun or adjective and fail over as a verb.

Failover

Use when

You use the noun or adjective for the process or capability of switching to a standby system or component.

Example

“The team completed the failover successfully.”

Fail over

Use when

You use the verb meaning switch automatically or deliberately to a standby system or component.

Example

“The database will fail over to the secondary region automatically.”

Quick check

database will failover, system failed-over, please failover to

Usage note

This is technical terminology. For a general audience, explain what the system switches to rather than assuming readers know the term failover.

Source checked 2026-08-14 (opens in a new tab)