foot-dragging

Or foot·drag·ging

[foot-drag-ing]

noun

1. reluctance or failure to proceed or act promptly.

Word History and Origins

Origin of foot-dragging¹

First recorded in 1945–50; from the verb phrase drag one's feet

Example Sentences

Lagarde nevertheless warned that the consequences of further foot-dragging go beyond "losing the race in AI models".

Read more on Barron's

Outraged by Morgan Stanley’s foot-dragging, Howie Hubler threatened to quit.

Read more on Literature

Israel and the Arab mediators in the talks knew Hamas wasn’t able to locate all of them, but the militant group’s initial decision to return only four looked like foot-dragging to Israel and set off a highly political skirmish amid demands the deal be halted until the bodies were back.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

I know not everyone is an experienced dog handler – but I can't begin to imagine how anyone could fail to notice the obvious discomfort, the heavy panting, the foot-dragging and laboured breathing in direct sunlight that had us reaching for our iced-water bottles.

Read more on BBC

The number of Asian American hate crimes rose by 145% over the next year, while Trump’s foot-dragging response to the pandemic and xenophobic terminology had lethal ripples around the world that we’re still contending with today.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• barrier 
• deterrent 
• drawback 
• handicap 
• hitch 
• impediment 
• interference 
• interruption 
• obstacle 
• snag 
• stumbling block