deadlock

A standstill resulting from the opposition of two evenly matched forces; a stalemate or impasse.

The negotiation ended in deadlock, with neither party willing to compromise on the price.

An inability to continue due to two programs or devices each requiring a response from the other before completing an operation.

If synchronization is always performed in least-first order with respect to object tags, then situations can never arise in which one thread has the synchronization lock for x while waiting for y and another has the lock for y while waiting for x. Instead, they will both obtain the locks in the same order, thus avoiding this form of deadlock.

Synonym of deadbolt (“type of lock”).

To cause or come to a deadlock.

A suspect was arrested on November 30 and charged with attempted murder. The evidence against him consisted of two jailhouse informers and an eyewitness who picked him out of a lineup after having identified a different man in an initial photo array. A jury ultimately convicted the suspect of assault after deadlocking twice in three days of deliberation.

To bring to a state of deadlock.

Since we cannot solve this problem completely, it may sometimes be better to use explicit locks and risk deadlock if a thread exits unexpectedly. It may be better to have a deadlocked system than to have a corrupted system.