deadlock

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dʰew-der.

Proto-Germanic *dawjaną

Proto-Germanic *daudaz

Proto-West Germanic *daud

Old English dēad

Middle English ded

English dead

Proto-Indo-European *lewg-der.

Proto-Germanic *luką

Proto-West Germanic *lok

Old English loc

Middle English lok

English lock

English deadlock

From dead + lock.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛdˌlɒk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛdˌlɑk/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈdedˌlɔk/
• Hyphenation: dead‧lock

Noun

deadlock (countable and uncountable, plural deadlocks)

1. 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.

   • 2026 September 6, Ioan Griffiths, Aled Williams, “Swans beat Cardiff & Wrexham start title defence with win”, in BBC Sport‎^[1], archived from the original on 7 September 2026, retrieved 7 September 2026:

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

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

   Coordinate terms: livelock, starvation

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

     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.

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

Derived terms

• antideadlock
• break the deadlock

Translations

standstill

• Bulgarian: засто́й (bg) m (zastój), мъ́ртва то́чка f (mắrtva tóčka)
• Catalan: bloqueig (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 僵局 (zh) (jiāngjú)

• Czech: mrtvý bod m
• Finnish: solmu (fi), umpikuja (fi)
• French: impasse (fr) f
• Georgian: გამოუვალი მდგომარეობა (gamouvali mdgomareoba), ჩიხი (ka) (čixi)
• German: toter Punkt m, Stillstand (de) m
• Greek: αδιέξοδο (el) n (adiéxodo), στάση (el) f (stási)
• Hungarian: holtpont (hu), patthelyzet (hu)
• Italian: punto morto m, arresto (it) m, blocco (it) m, stallo (it) m, stasi (it) f, fermo (it) m
• Japanese: 膠着状態 (こうちゃくじょうたい, kōchaku jōtai), 停滞 (ja) (ていたい, teitai), 行き詰まり (ja) (いきづまり, ikidzumari), デッドロック (deddorokku)
• Korean: 교착 상태(膠着狀態) (gyochak sangtae), 데드 록 (dedeu rok)
• Macedonian: за́стој m (zástoj), мр́тва то́чка f (mŕtva tóčka)
• Māori: whakamāraritanga
• Polish: zastój (pl) m inan, martwy punkt m inan, impas (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: impasse (pt) m
• Russian: засто́й (ru) m (zastój), мёртвая то́чка f (mjórtvaja tóčka), тупи́к (ru) m (tupík), па́товая ситуа́ция f (pátovaja situácija), клинч (ru) m (klinč) (figuratively)
• Slovak: mŕtvy bod m
• Slovene: mrtva točka f
• Spanish: estancamiento (es), punto muerto (es) m, callejón sin salida (es) m, impasse m, impás (es) m
• Swedish: baklås (sv), dödläge (sv) n
• Turkish: çıkmaz (tr)

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

• Bulgarian: де́длок m (dédlok)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 死鎖 / 死锁 (sǐsuǒ), 鎖死 / 锁死 (suǒsǐ)

• Czech: deadlock m, uváznutí n
• French: interblocage (fr) m, étreinte fatale (fr) f
• German: Deadlock (de) m, Verklemmung f
• Greek: κώλυμα (el) n (kólyma), σταμάτημα (el) n (stamátima)
• Japanese: デッドロック (deddorokku)
• Korean: 데드 록 (dedeu rok)
• Polish: zakleszczenie n
• Portuguese: deadlock m
• Russian: взаи́мная блокиро́вка f (vzaímnaja blokiróvka), де́длок m (dɛ́dlok)
• Swedish: baklås (sv), dödläge (sv) n
• Turkish: deadlock (tr), kilitlenme (tr)

Verb

deadlock (third-person singular simple present deadlocks, present participle deadlocking, simple past and past participle deadlocked)

1. (intransitive) To cause or come to a deadlock.
   • 2001, Bernard E. Harcourt, chapter 6, in Illusion of Order:

     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.

2. (transitive) To bring to a state of deadlock.
   • 2004, Scott Oaks, Henry Wong, Java Threads, O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 123:

     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.

Derived terms

• deadlockable

Further reading

• deadlock on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈdɛdlok]

Noun

deadlock m inan

1. (computing) deadlock

   Synonym: uváznutí n

Declension

Declension of deadlock (velar masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	deadlock	deadlocky
genitive	deadlocku	deadlocků
dative	deadlocku	deadlockům
accusative	deadlock	deadlocky
vocative	deadlocku	deadlocky
locative	deadlocku	deadlocích
instrumental	deadlockem	deadlocky

Further reading

• deadlock on the Czech Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^cs

Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dʰew-der.

Proto-Germanic *dawjaną

Proto-Germanic *daudaz

Proto-West Germanic *daud

Old English dēad

Middle English ded

English dead

Proto-Indo-European *lewg-der.

Proto-Germanic *luką

Proto-West Germanic *lok

Old English loc

Middle English lok

English lock

English deadlockubor.

Portuguese deadlock

Unadapted borrowing from English deadlock.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌdedˈlo.ki/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌdedˈlo.kɨ/ [ˌdeðˈlo.kɨ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌdedˈlo.kɨ/ [ˌdeðˈlo.kɨ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌdedˈlo.kɨ/

• Hyphenation: dead‧lock

Noun

deadlock m (plural deadlocks)

1. (computing) deadlock (inability to continue operating due to two processes requiring a response from one other)

Further reading

• deadlock on the Portuguese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^pt

Turkish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dʰew-der.

Proto-Germanic *dawjaną

Proto-Germanic *daudaz

Proto-West Germanic *daud

Old English dēad

Middle English ded

English dead

Proto-Indo-European *lewg-der.

Proto-Germanic *luką

Proto-West Germanic *lok

Old English loc

Middle English lok

English lock

English deadlockubor.

Turkish deadlock

Unadapted borrowing from English deadlock.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈded.lok/
• Hyphenation: dead‧lock

Noun

deadlock (definite accusative deadlocku, plural deadlocklar)

1. (computing) deadlock

Synonyms

• kilitlenme

Further reading

• deadlock on the Turkish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^tr