Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Failure to take prompt or required action.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The deliberate delaying of obligatory action.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From drag one's feet.

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Examples

  • He seems to have been looking for an excuse to leave Iraq, and Iraqi foot-dragging, which is to be expected in such a rickety parliamentary system, provided it to him.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • What some call foot-dragging Mrs Merkel regards as creative obstruction.

    The Economist: Daily news and views 2011

  • So Israel's occupation of the West Bank, its economic stranglehold on Gaza, its foot-dragging on peace-making, and the suffering that inflicts on Palestinians all get a pass from the U.S. public and policymakers because they sympathize with Israel's supposedly overriding need to protect its security.

    Ira Chernus: J Street's Wrong Turn Ira Chernus 2011

  • Only last week, the Swiss government relaxed its conditions for sharing information on secret bank accounts, to pre-empt criticism from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that it was foot-dragging over cooperating in hunting down tax-avoiders.

    Swiss Banks Have to Come Clean Katharina Bart 2011

  • The new allegations of foot-dragging could deal "another severe blow" to Toyota's "already fragile consumer trust," says Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends at auto-industry reasearcher TrueCar. com.

    Toyota delayed almost a year before issuing 2005 steering defect recall 2010

  • The result of this foot-dragging is that we are no closer to the government fulfilling David Cameron's pledge to "shine the light of transparency on lobbying".

    Honour the pledge to clean up lobbying, Mr Senate | Observer editorial 2011

  • Fortunately, a more efficient system is finally on the doorstep of America's most stubborn, foot-dragging, reactionary sector—government at the local, state and especially federal levels—and its officially authorized, customer-hating agents, the Democrats and Republicans.

    Death of the Duopoly Nick Gillespie 2011

  • In particular, there appears to have been a bit of haggling, if not foot-dragging, over a non-disclosure agreement NDA, a standard procedure for high-profile events like the one being organized with Murdoch.

    Media Matters Struggling To Schedule $86,000 Lunch With Rupert Murdoch Sam Stein 2011

  • A more efficient system is on the doorstep of our most stubborn, foot-dragging sector: government.

    Death of the Duopoly Nick Gillespie 2011

  • In particular, there appears to have been a bit of haggling, if not foot-dragging, over a non-disclosure agreement NDA, a standard procedure for high-profile events like the one being organized with Murdoch.

    Media Matters Struggling To Schedule $86,000 Lunch With Rupert Murdoch Sam Stein 2011

Comments

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  • I'm going to list this word one day.

    February 16, 2016