teraflop: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples
Very LowHighly Technical
Quick answer
What does “teraflop” mean?
A unit of computing speed equal to one trillion floating-point operations per second.
Audio
Pronunciation
Definition
Meaning and Definition
A unit of computing speed equal to one trillion floating-point operations per second.
A measure of raw computational power, often used to rate the performance of supercomputers, high-end servers, or sophisticated graphics processing units (GPUs).
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
No significant differences in meaning or spelling. Pronunciation may vary slightly (see IPA).
Connotations
Identical in both variants: implies high-performance computing.
Frequency
Equally rare and specialised in both varieties, confined to computer science and related industries.
Grammar
How to Use “teraflop” in a Sentence
[Number] + teraflop(s) + [of + performance/computing power]A + [Adjective] + teraflop + [Noun]Vocabulary
Collocations
Examples
Examples of “teraflop” in a Sentence
adjective
British English
- The teraflop performance figures were audited.
American English
- A teraflop-capable processor is essential for this AI workload.
Usage
Meaning in Context
Business
Used in marketing high-performance computing hardware or cloud services. 'Our new server cluster delivers over 50 teraflops.'
Academic
Used in computer science papers and performance benchmarking studies.
Everyday
Virtually never used in everyday conversation.
Technical
The standard unit for comparing the processing speed of supercomputers, AI accelerators, and advanced GPUs.
Vocabulary
Synonyms of “teraflop”
Neutral
Weak
Watch out
Common Mistakes When Using “teraflop”
- Pronouncing it as /ˈtiːrəflɒp/ (like 'tear' a piece of paper). The first syllable is /ˈtɛrə/ (like 'terrain').
- Using it as a countable noun for a computer itself (e.g., 'That's a powerful teraflop') instead of a unit of measurement.
- Writing as 'tera-flop' or 'tera flop' instead of the standard solid or hyphenated forms.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
It is exclusively a noun (a unit of measurement).
One trillion (1,000,000,000,000) floating-point calculations per second.
Yes, the standard plural is 'teraflops' (e.g., 'The system achieves 20 teraflops').
Petaflop (10^15 flops), then exaflop (10^18 flops).
A unit of computing speed equal to one trillion floating-point operations per second.
Teraflop is usually highly technical in register.
Teraflop: in British English it is pronounced /ˈtɛrəflɒp/, and in American English it is pronounced /ˈtɛrəflɑːp/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think: TERA (like a TERAbite of data) + FLOP (like a fish flopping really, really fast) = a trillion fast calculations per second.
Conceptual Metaphor
COMPUTING POWER IS SPEED / MEASURABLE QUANTITY
Practice
Quiz
What does 'teraflop' specifically measure?