An operation that completes entirely or not at all, appearing as a single, indivisible unit to other threads. Atomic operations cannot be interrupted or partially completed, ensuring data consistency in concurrent environments.
'Atomic' from Greek 'atomos' meaning 'indivisible' (a- 'not' + tomos 'cut'). In computing, the term was adopted in the 1960s from atomic physics, describing operations that cannot be 'split' or interrupted, just like atoms were once thought to be indivisible particles.
Try Another Word