out-of-band

adjective

Taking place outside of a defined telecommunications frequency band.

Opposite
inband
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Meanings

adjective
  1. communicationsTaking place outside of a defined telecommunications frequency band.
    1 more example

    In this additional spectrum, in-band signaling was sent down the wires outside the frequencies used for conversation. Actually, the signals were sent across the 3,500- and 3,700-Hz frequencies. Although these worked and were not in the talk path (out of the band) they were limited in the number of tones that could be sent.

    2001, Regis J. Bates, Donald W. Gregory, Voice and Data Communications Handbook, page 841
  2. broadlycommunicationsTransmitted on a different channel, or by a different method, from that of the primary communication channel.
  3. computer securityRelating to communication, such as identity verification, via a method other than the primary means of accessing the software.

    One great way of solving the phishing problem is doing out-of-band authentication.

    2007, Simon Willison, Google Tech Talks: The Implications of OpenID, archived from the original on 13 May 2008
    1 more example

    Defaulting to chaos still causes a lot of disruption, and would require out-of-band social coordination to resolve, but it places a much larger barrier in front of the attacker, and makes attackers much less confident that they will be able to get away with a clean victory, making them much less motivated to even try to start an attack.

    2020, Vitalik Buterin, “A Philosophy of Blockchain Validation”, in vitalik.ca, archived from the original on 21 Sep 2020
  4. computingOf a value returned by a function: not in its natural range of return values, but rather signaling an exception.

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite
inband
Also see
outband

Translations

Finnish kaistan ulkopuolinen, kaistan ulkopuolinen
  • kaistan ulkopuolinentelecommunications: outside of a defined telecommunications frequency band
  • kaistan ulkopuolinentelecommunications: on a different channel, or by a different method
  • kaistan ulkopuolinencomputer security: via a method other than the primary means of accessing the software
French hors bande, horsbande
  • hors bandetelecommunications: outside of a defined telecommunications frequency band
  • horsbandetelecommunications: on a different channel, or by a different method
  • horsbandecomputer security: via a method other than the primary means of accessing the software
German außerband-, bandfern
  • außerband-telecommunications: outside of a defined telecommunications frequency band
  • bandferntelecommunications: outside of a defined telecommunications frequency band
  • Out-of-Band-telecommunications: on a different channel, or by a different method
  • Out-of-Band-computer security: via a method other than the primary means of accessing the software
Russian внеполосный
  • внеполосный (vnepolosnyj)telecommunications: on a different channel, or by a different method
Cite this entry
APA

out-of-band. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out-of-band

MLA

“out-of-band.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out-of-band. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “out-of-band,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out-of-band.

Source: out-of-band on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.