Linearizability is a consistency model used in distributed systems to ensure that operations appear to occur instantaneously at some point between their start and end times. This means that even if operations are executed concurrently, they can be ordered in a way that respects the real-time order of non-overlapping operations. In a linearizable system, if one operation completes before another starts, the first operation will always appear to happen before the second. This property helps maintain a clear and understandable state of the system, making it easier for developers to reason about the behavior of concurrent operations.