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.
These twinned crises put the U.S. on its slow, foot-dragging path toward energy independence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026
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
Hernandez admonished the Corps for having “fought tooth and nail” against better measures for fish, foot-dragging that the judge said had pushed the fish closer to the edge of extinction.
From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2023
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
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
