foot-dragging
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of foot-dragging
First recorded in 1945–50; from the verb phrase drag one's feet
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The bureaucratic foot-dragging has to end so that America can do the same.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 15, 2026
As the first of the dead were laid to rest Wednesday, Jewish Australians said they felt unsafe, angry and frustrated at perceived government foot-dragging in confronting antisemitism.
From Barron's • Dec. 17, 2025
"We need to see faster action from the government and not this foot-dragging... because if nature suffers then humanity suffers as well."
From BBC • Jan. 19, 2025
The Jan. 5 ceremony was far from the tired, foot-dragging telecast that it was expected to be.
From Salon • Jan. 6, 2025
And I have never crossed it without sharing something with those early families foot-dragging through this terrestrial hell, leaving the white skeletons of horses and cattle which still mark the way.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
