You mean "CLOCK_MONOTONIC", not "CLOCK_MONATONIC". (I'm guessing this is a misspelling, not a typo, since it appeared twice.) And the simple answer is that if

You mean "CLOCK_MONOTONIC", not "CLOCK_MONATONIC". (I'm guessing this is a misspelling, not a typo, since it appeared twice.) And the simple answer is that if time stops then CLOCK_MONOTONIC always returns the same time. This is perfectly fine given correct software; CLOCK_MONOTONIC is guaranteed to not go backwards but it it not guaranteed to always go forward. One could imagine for example a system with a very inaccurate clock where CLOCK_MONOTONIC simply counts days, for example.