diff --git a/retrieval/target.go b/retrieval/target.go
index b0aaaf630..f734f5f07 100644
--- a/retrieval/target.go
+++ b/retrieval/target.go
@@ -72,26 +72,22 @@ func (t TargetState) String() string {
 	switch t {
 	case Unknown:
 		return "UNKNOWN"
-	case Alive:
-		return "ALIVE"
-	case Unreachable:
-		return "UNREACHABLE"
+	case Healthy:
+		return "HEALTHY"
+	case Unhealthy:
+		return "UNHEALTHY"
 	}
 
 	panic("unknown state")
 }
 
 const (
-	// Unknown is the state of a Target that has not been seen; we know
-	// nothing about it, except that it is on our docket for examination.
+	// Unknown is the state of a Target before it is first scraped.
 	Unknown TargetState = iota
-	// Alive is the state of a Target that has been found and successfully
-	// queried.
-	Alive
-	// Unreachable is the state of a Target that was either historically
-	// found or not found and then determined to be unhealthy by either not
-	// responding or disappearing.
-	Unreachable
+	// Healthy is the state of a Target that has been successfully scraped.
+	Healthy
+	// Unhealthy is the state of a Target that was scraped unsuccessfully.
+	Unhealthy
 )
 
 // A Target represents an endpoint that should be interrogated for metrics.
@@ -294,9 +290,9 @@ func (t *target) scrape(ingester extraction.Ingester) (err error) {
 	defer func(start time.Time) {
 		t.Lock() // Writing t.state and t.lastError requires the lock.
 		if err == nil {
-			t.state = Alive
+			t.state = Healthy
 		} else {
-			t.state = Unreachable
+			t.state = Unhealthy
 		}
 		t.lastError = err
 		t.Unlock()
diff --git a/retrieval/target_test.go b/retrieval/target_test.go
index ddea75ec4..3731a56cf 100644
--- a/retrieval/target_test.go
+++ b/retrieval/target_test.go
@@ -61,8 +61,8 @@ func TestTargetScrapeUpdatesState(t *testing.T) {
 		httpClient: utility.NewDeadlineClient(0),
 	}
 	testTarget.scrape(nopIngester{})
-	if testTarget.state != Unreachable {
-		t.Errorf("Expected target state %v, actual: %v", Unreachable, testTarget.state)
+	if testTarget.state != Unhealthy {
+		t.Errorf("Expected target state %v, actual: %v", Unhealthy, testTarget.state)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -84,8 +84,8 @@ func TestTargetScrapeWithFullChannel(t *testing.T) {
 	).(*target)
 
 	testTarget.scrape(ChannelIngester(make(chan clientmodel.Samples))) // Capacity 0.
-	if testTarget.state != Unreachable {
-		t.Errorf("Expected target state %v, actual: %v", Unreachable, testTarget.state)
+	if testTarget.state != Unhealthy {
+		t.Errorf("Expected target state %v, actual: %v", Unhealthy, testTarget.state)
 	}
 	if testTarget.lastError != errIngestChannelFull {
 		t.Errorf("Expected target error %q, actual: %q", errIngestChannelFull, testTarget.lastError)
diff --git a/retrieval/targetmanager_test.go b/retrieval/targetmanager_test.go
index e323a665b..095f697ef 100644
--- a/retrieval/targetmanager_test.go
+++ b/retrieval/targetmanager_test.go
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ func (t fakeTarget) StopScraper() {
 }
 
 func (t fakeTarget) State() TargetState {
-	return Alive
+	return Healthy
 }
 
 func (t *fakeTarget) SetBaseLabelsFrom(newTarget Target) {}
diff --git a/retrieval/targetpool_test.go b/retrieval/targetpool_test.go
index 28f5e74e8..202b59944 100644
--- a/retrieval/targetpool_test.go
+++ b/retrieval/targetpool_test.go
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ func TestTargetPoolReplaceTargets(t *testing.T) {
 	pool := NewTargetPool(nil, nil, nopIngester{}, time.Duration(1))
 	oldTarget1 := &target{
 		url:             "example1",
-		state:           Unreachable,
+		state:           Unhealthy,
 		scraperStopping: make(chan struct{}),
 		scraperStopped:  make(chan struct{}),
 		newBaseLabels:   make(chan clientmodel.LabelSet, 1),
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ func TestTargetPoolReplaceTargets(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	oldTarget2 := &target{
 		url:             "example2",
-		state:           Unreachable,
+		state:           Unhealthy,
 		scraperStopping: make(chan struct{}),
 		scraperStopped:  make(chan struct{}),
 		newBaseLabels:   make(chan clientmodel.LabelSet, 1),
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ func TestTargetPoolReplaceTargets(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	newTarget1 := &target{
 		url:             "example1",
-		state:           Alive,
+		state:           Healthy,
 		scraperStopping: make(chan struct{}),
 		scraperStopped:  make(chan struct{}),
 		newBaseLabels:   make(chan clientmodel.LabelSet, 1),
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ func TestTargetPoolReplaceTargets(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	newTarget2 := &target{
 		url:             "example3",
-		state:           Alive,
+		state:           Healthy,
 		scraperStopping: make(chan struct{}),
 		scraperStopped:  make(chan struct{}),
 		newBaseLabels:   make(chan clientmodel.LabelSet, 1),