Why do we say that a static method in Java is not a virtual method?

Question

In object-oriented paradigm, a virtual function or virtual method is a function or method whose behavior can be overridden within an inheriting class by a f

Answer 1

You can't override static methods. They are bound at compile-time. They are not polymorphic. Even if you try to invoke it as if it were an instance method (which IMO you shouldn't do) it's bound to the compile-time type of that expression, and the execution-time value is completely ignored (even if it's null):

Thread otherThread = null;
otherThread.sleep(1000); // No errors, equivalent to Thread.sleep(1000);

This behaviour can be very confusing for a reader, which is why at least some IDEs allow you to generate warnings or errors for accessing static members "through" a reference. It was a flaw in Java's design, pure and simple - but it doesn't make static methods virtual at all.