Testmuai iconTestmuaiSep 1, 2026 ~6 min source read

Software Testing Terminology: a concise guide to 100+ QA terms

A practical summary of TestMu AI’s compiled glossary that defines 100+ software testing and quality assurance terms, grouped for quick lookup and applied use.

Software Testing Terminology: 100+ QA Terms Defined

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Useful takeaways from this story.

The glossary covers foundational QA concepts through modern topics such as agentic testing and LLM evaluation, making it useful for both new and experienced testers.

Entries are grouped alphabetically and include common test types, test processes, tools, metrics, and emerging terms like Agent Assurance and generative AI testing.

Use the list as a reference when writing test plans, defining team roles, or aligning terminology across engineering, QA, and product teams.

The useful part

Join the waitlist Turn QA Terms Into Real Test Runs Practice these QA concepts on 3,000+ browser and OS combos with 100 free automation minutes. If you're a novice in software testing, you've probably heard many unfamiliar acronyms and jargon. In order to expand your professional vocabulary, learning different testing terminologies is crucial.

How it works

  • Verification asks whether the software was built correctly against its specification, and validation asks whether the correct software was built for the user.
  • Severity describes how badly a defect damages the system, while priority describes how soon it should be fixed.
  • Acceptance Testing The potential end-user or customers perform acceptance testing to check if the software meets the requirements and can be accepted for end-use.
  • This guide on software testing terminology covers the basic definitions for software testing and quality assurance commonly used by QA testers.
  • A cosmetic bug on a checkout page can be low severity and high priority at the same time.

What to take from it

Roles and metrics such as severity, priority, and test coverage. A/B Testing A/B testing or split testing creates at least one variant to test against a current webpage to ascertain which one performs better regarding agreed metrics such as revenue per visitor (for e-commerce websites) or conversion rate. Acceptance Test Driven Development Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD) is a software development methodology that helps you to reduce the risk of defects and ensure that your application meets quality standards by incorporating testing as an integral part of the development process.

Example or evidence

  • The distinction that matters most in that newer group is between using AI to test software and testing software that contains AI.
  • They are separate disciplines with different failure modes and different evidence requirements.
  • The same input can produce two different correct answers, so equality assertions are replaced by scoring against criteria such as groundedness, relevance, and safety.
  • Accessibility Testing Accessibility testing makes your mobile and web apps used by as many people as possible.

Details worth keeping

Software Testing Terminology: 100+ QA Terms Defined New: Test levels such as unit, integration, and system testing. Test types such as functional, performance, and security testing.

Related coverage

  • Testmuai: A glossary of 100+ AI terms for engineering and QA teams: LLMs, agents, RAG, evals, prompting and generative AI, each defined in plain language.
  • Ministryoftesting: Reality bytes. Meet the teams and terms where they are
  • Testmuai: Agile testing explained: quadrants, principles, methods, and best practices for agile QA teams testing in agile sprints, plus how to plan and automate it.
  • Testmuai: Abhishek Mishra is a Technical Product Manager at TestMu AI (formerly LambdaTest), where he owns Test Manager, the test management product.
  • Testmuai: Explore the role of a manual QA tester, essential skills, top testing tools, career path, and steps to become a successful QA professional.

More context around this story.

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Abhishek Mishra is a Technical Product Manager at TestMu AI (formerly LambdaTest), where he owns Test Manager, the test management product. He has over 8 years of experience in product management and market analysis, spanning AI-native software testing, product strategy, and analytics. On TestMu AI, he authored guides

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