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

Evidently those within meant to play a waiting game until they could get the officers of the law under their hands, or perhaps take them unawares.

From Emerson's Wife and Other Western Stories by Kelly, Florence Finch

Related Words

• dawdle
• hesitate