deadlock

plural deadlocks

1. countableuncountableA 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.

   1 more example

   Natasha Thomas' effort struck the post and Maria Francis-Jones fired over the crossbar before the deadlock was finally broken on 32 minutes.

   2026 September 6, Ioan Griffiths, Aled Williams, “Swans beat Cardiff & Wrexham start title defence with win”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 07 Sep 2026, retrieved 07 Sep 2026

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

   1 more example

   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.

   2000, Douglas Lea, Concurrent Programming in Java, Addison-Wesley Professional, →ISBN, page 88

3. countableuncountableSynonym of deadbolt (“type of lock”).

   Synonyms: deadbolt

present singular third person deadlocks · participle present deadlocking · participle past deadlocked · past deadlocked

1. intransitiveTo cause or come to a deadlock.

   1 more example

   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.

   2001, Bernard E. Harcourt, chapter 6, in Illusion of Order

2. transitiveTo 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.

   2004, Scott Oaks, Henry Wong, Java Threads, O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 123