power outage
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power outage
An unexpected interruption in the supply of electrical energy in a particular area, causing electrical devices to stop working.
Während des Gewitters gab es in der ganzen Stadt einen mehrstündigen Stromausfall.
During the thunderstorm, there was a power outage lasting several hours throughout the whole city.
'Stromausfall' (power outage) is a compound noun made up of 'der Strom' (electricity/power) and 'der Ausfall' (failure/outage). The 's' in between is a linking s that connects the two words. Literally, it means that the power fails.
Ein Stromausfall im Winter ist besonders unangenehm.
A power outage in winter is especially unpleasant.
The noun 'der Ausfall' (failure/outage) comes from the separable verb 'ausfallen' (to fail, to be canceled). So you can also say: 'Der Strom ist ausgefallen.' (The power has gone out.) This wording is very common in everyday speech.
Plötzlich ist im ganzen Haus der Strom ausgefallen.
Suddenly, the power went out in the whole house.
To talk about a power outage, people very often use the impersonal expression 'es gibt einen Stromausfall' (there is a power outage) or the formulation 'einen Stromausfall haben' (to have a power outage).
Gestern Abend gab es bei uns einen kurzen Stromausfall.
Yesterday evening, we had a short power outage.
blackout
Both words refer to a sudden interruption of the power supply. A Stromausfall may affect just one location or a small area. Blackout is usually used for a widespread or complete power failure. For a local disruption, Stromausfall is therefore the better choice.
Wegen eines Stromausfalls war in unserem Haus eine Stunde lang das Licht aus.
Because of a power outage, the lights were out in our house for an hour.
Wegen eines Blackouts war in der ganzen Region eine Stunde lang der Strom ausgefallen.
Because of a blackout, the power was out across the entire region for an hour.
