In testing terminology, what does the term 'defect severity' refer to?

The term 'defect severity' specifically refers to the impact of the defect on the functionality of the system. This means how serious or critical the defect is in terms of its effect on the product’s operation. High-severity defects could lead to major failures or critical malfunctions that significantly hinder system performance or user experience, while low-severity defects may cause minimal disruptions or be purely cosmetic in nature.

Understanding defect severity is crucial for prioritizing issues during the testing and development process. It helps teams focus their efforts on fixing the most impactful defects first, thereby ensuring that the delivered product meets quality standards and user expectations. In this context, severity is inherently about the degree of negative impact, rather than factors related to occurrence likelihood, frequency, or fixability, which belong to different attributes of defects.