Failure (glossary)

(1) Termination of the ability of a product to perform a required function or its inability to perform within previously specified limits. (ISO/IEC 25000:2005, 4.2)

(2) An event in which a system or system component does not perform a required function within specified limits. (ISO/IEC 2009, 1)

(3) The event in which any part of an item does not perform as required by its specification. The failure may occur at a value in excess of the minimum required in the specification, i.e., past design limits or beyond the margin of safety. (INCOSE 2010)

Source

(1)

(2) ISO/IEEE. 2009. Systems and Software Engineering Vocabulary (SEVocab) - ISO/IEC 24765. in International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electronical Commission (IEC) [database online]. Geneva, Switzerland, 2009 [cited December 21 2009]. Available from http://pascal.computer.org/sev_display/index.action.

(3) INCOSE. 2010. INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook, version 3.2. San Diego, CA, USA: International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), INCOSE-TP-2003-002-03.2.

Discussion

Discussion as to why this is the "consensus" definition for the SEBoK.