What is a defunct process in Linux?

• These are also termed as zombie process.
• These are those process who have completed their execution but still has an entry in the process table.
• When a process ends, all of the memory and resources associated with it are de-allocated so they can be used by other processes.
• After the zombie is removed, its process identifier (PID) and entry in the process table can then be reused.
• Zombies can be identified in the output from the Unix ps command by the presence of a "Z" in the "STAT" column