play a waiting game

Idioms  

1. Delay an action or decision so as to force an opponent to move or to gain additional information. For example, The lawyer advised her to play a waiting game and see if her husband would come up with more alimony. [Late 1800s]

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Example Sentences

But KKR has been forced to play a waiting game as Telecom Italia overhauled its management, ousting its fourth chief executive in six years after a string of profit warnings.

From Reuters • Feb. 22, 2022

This kind of patience is only available when your owner has no need to cash in and, in a fast-moving sport where fans demand instant results, knows how to play a waiting game.

From The Guardian • Dec. 15, 2017

The British government, although quietly outraged by Ecuador’s actions in offering shelter to Assange, have decided not to make a diplomatic row out of the affair, content to play a waiting game instead.

From Newsweek • Feb. 8, 2013

The Mariners might be willing to play a waiting game, offer him a four-or-five-year deal, but even that would be gamble.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 11, 2012

Miss Reynier was able to play a waiting game.

From The Stolen Singer by Bellinger, Martha Idell Fletcher

Related Words

• dawdle
• hesitate