"Wait-free" is a term used in computer science to describe a type of algorithm or data structure that guarantees that every operation will complete in a finite number of steps, regardless of the actions of other concurrent operations. This means that even if multiple processes are trying to access shared resources simultaneously, each process can complete its task without being delayed by others. In a wait-free system, there are no locks or blocking mechanisms, which helps to improve performance and responsiveness. This is particularly important in environments where high availability and low latency are critical, such as in real-time systems or distributed computing scenarios involving multiple threads or processes.