Code Drift
Noun · Slang & Abbreviations
Definitions
The gradual divergence of code from intended design, docs, neighboring services, or its own earlier assumptions. In engineering slang, code drift is what happens when many small practical changes accumulate without a unifying cleanup pass.
In plain English: The slow divergence of code from its intended form or documentation.
Example: "The docs were not exactly wrong, but years of code drift had made the actual config behavior much stranger than the documented model."