a drag

Idioms  

1. A tedious experience, a bore, as in After several thousand times, signing your autograph can be a drag. This seemingly modern term was army slang during the Civil War. The allusion probably is to drag as something that impedes progress. [Colloquial; mid-1800s]

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Example Sentences

Researchers estimated that it would incite higher unemployment and create a drag of 1% to 3% on annual gross domestic product growth.

From Barron's

The analysts cite several challenges for CPG companies that could be structural, like a drag on volume from slower population growth and a demand shock as the rise of GLP-1 drugs reduces calorie intake.

From The Wall Street Journal

Sluggish population growth is also a drag on growth, the bank said.

From The Wall Street Journal

“First, the global economy was resilient and was surprising on the upside. Then we had the war in the Middle East and that is acting as a drag. And of course it’s highly uncertain, since we don’t know the breadth and the duration of this energy shock.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Two factors were pulling cryptos in different directions – reports that Washington delivered a ceasefire plan to Tehran gave markets some optimism and lifted risk assets, but the latest twist in the Clarity Act, legislation seeking to regulate digital currencies, was a drag.

From Barron's