Thread Starvation

Noun · Development

Definitions

  1. A condition where all threads in a pool are occupied by long-running or blocked tasks, leaving no threads available to process incoming work — causing requests to queue indefinitely even though CPU and memory are underutilized.

    In plain English: When all available worker threads are busy or stuck, so new tasks have to wait in line even though the computer isn't actually overloaded.

    Example: "Every thread was stuck waiting on the downstream API timeout, so new requests just piled up — classic thread starvation."

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