Starvation
A condition in which an execution unit remains ready but is repeatedly denied the resources or scheduling opportunity needed to progress.
Concurrency Context
Starvation describes a participant that remains eligible to run but is repeatedly denied the resource, lock, queue position, or scheduling opportunity required to make progress. Unfair locks, persistent priority bias, work-stealing policy, or queue ordering can all create this behavior.
Progress Boundary
High latency or low throughput alone is not starvation. The defining property is systematic lack of progress for a particular participant or class of work. Fairness and bounded-waiting guarantees address that risk explicitly.