waiting game

noun

1. a stratagem in which action on a matter is reserved for or postponed to a later time, allowing one to wait for a more advantageous time to act or to see what develops in the meantime.

waiting game

noun

1. the postponement of action or decision in order to gain the advantage

Word History and Origins

Origin of waiting game¹

First recorded in 1885–90

Idioms and Phrases

see play a waiting game .

Example Sentences

Part of the waiting game is seeing in practice what “according to Islamic law” really means.

From Vox

The same story is playing out this time, and we’re playing the same waiting game because of how difficult it is to predict when and where this thing will reenter.

From MIT Technology Review

“Eventually something has to turn up, but it’s a waiting game.”

From Science News

I’ve been listening to it a lot lately as we approach the end of 2020 because I think it captures an important urgency in media and marketing’s present reality — the waiting game is over.

From Digiday

The post The end of the waiting game appeared first on Digiday.

From Digiday

Many in the room felt like they were caught in a waiting game, yet few were in the mood to wait.

From The Daily Beast

The nightmare waiting game Charlene and her husband, Robert, now find themselves in began on a night that remains vague at best.

From The Daily Beast

“Kate has played a brilliant waiting game,” says one royal source.

From The Daily Beast

It was now a waiting game, and no one knew what the next few days would bring.

From The Daily Beast

More couples than ever are playing the waiting game, a game that, for women, is something of a gamble.

From The Daily Beast

The Indian is a great hand at playing a waiting game and Yellow Elk was no exception to this rule.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus did he first learn how much better than men women play a waiting game.

From Project Gutenberg

We could see that it was a waiting game that Don Rafael was playing.

From Project Gutenberg

Stenovics's mind excelled in the waiting game, the slow, tortuous approach, the inch-by-inch advance of leisurely diplomacy.

From Project Gutenberg

The thought that the tedious waiting game which he had played so long might be ended did not elate him.

From Project Gutenberg