Tombstone

Definitions

1. A marker indicating that a record has been deleted, used instead of physically removing data. Common in distributed databases (Cassandra, DynamoDB) and event-sourced systems where deletes must propagate to replicas before compaction.

   In plain English: A 'deleted' flag placed on data instead of actually removing it, so all copies of the database learn about the deletion.

   Example: "Don't worry about the deleted rows — they're tombstoned and will be compacted out during the next garbage collection cycle."

Related Terms

• Replication
• Shard
• Saga Pattern
• Leader Election
• Write-Ahead Log
• Connection Pooling
• Upsert
• Outbox Pattern
• Inbox Pattern