swap space

This term is a technical specification used primarily in computer science and operating system administration. It describes a mechanism for memory management where the system "swaps" pages of data between the fast physical RAM and the slower hard disk to prevent system crashes when memory is exhausted.

Because it refers to a conceptual area of storage rather than a discrete object, it is treated as an uncountable noun. It is almost always used in the singular form, even when referring to large amounts of allocated disk space.