(1) A wait operation initiated when a thread calls either the WaitForSingleObjectEx, WaitForMultipleObjectsEx, or SleepEx function with the function's fAlertable flag set to TRUE. In an alertable wait, the wait function returns when a ReadFileEx or WriteFileEx function completion routine is queued for execution.
(2) A wait function operation in which the function can return when the specified conditions are satisfied, or when the system queues a completion routine for execution by the waiting thread. See also completion routine, wait function.