Word.ws English Dictionary

livelock

Syllables: live·lock

livelock noun: a state resembling deadlock in which various computational processes are constantly changing but never reach a point where any of them can proceed.

Noun

livelock (countable and uncountable, plural livelocks)

  1. A state resembling deadlock in which various computational processes are constantly changing but never reach a point where any of them can proceed.
    • However, this can lead to livelock—the optimistic analog of indefinite blocking in which methods continuously spin without making any further progress.2000, Douglas Lea, Concurrent Programming in Java, Addison-Wesley Professional, →ISBN, page 193
    • A process is considered to be in a state of livelock when thread code is still executing, but two or more threads are in a never-ending cycle with each other and no useful work is being done.2003, Mark Pearce, Comprehensive VB .NET Debugging, →ISBN, page 439

Verb

livelock (third-person singular simple present livelocks, present participle livelocking, simple past and past participle livelocked)

  1. To enter a state of livelock.

Forms of livelock

Noun
plurallivelocks
Verb
third-person singular presentlivelocks
present participlelivelocking
past participlelivelocked
pastlivelocked

Origin of livelock

From live + lock; punning antonym for deadlock, c. 1971.

Questions about livelock

What does livelock mean?
Livelock means a state resembling deadlock in which various computational processes are constantly changing but never reach a point where any of them can proceed.
What part of speech is livelock?
Livelock can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of livelock?
The plural of livelock is livelocks.

Words near livelock in the dictionary

  1. livelihood
  2. livelihoods
  3. livelily
  4. liveliness
  5. livelinesses
  6. livelock
  7. livelocked
  8. livelocking
  9. livelocks
  10. livelod
  11. livelode

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: livelock (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-livelock.ogg.

Cite this entry: “livelock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/livelock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.