slow-walk

verb

ˈslō-ˌwȯk 

slow-walked; slow-walking; slow-walks

transitive verb

: to delay or prevent the progress of (something) by acting in a deliberately slow manner

They can still slow-walk the confirmation process, though, stretching out the Senate's consideration for each Cabinet-level pick for days, which collectively could strangle business in the chamber for months.

—Tamar Hallerman

The suit claims the university slow-walked a formal complaint filed last December, dragging out the internal investigation until some of the accused male swimmers graduated and could no longer be punished.

—Thomas J. Prohaska

slow-walking noun

The slow-walking of processing asylum claims, and the huge backlog of cases at ports of entry, are only adding to tensions in the region.

—Roberta Jacobson and Dan Restrepo

Examples of slow-walk in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The campaign has drawn a coalition of the frustrated that cuts across ideological lines, including fed-up ratepayers and climate activists accusing the utilities of slow-walking the transition away from fossil fuels. —Evan Halper, Washington Post, 4 Nov. 2023

Orban has irritated other NATO members by slow-walking Sweden’s accession to the alliance and his refusal to fully support Ukraine. —Robyn Dixon, Washington Post, 17 Oct. 2023

Bremmer also notes that China has been slow-walking implementation of the Iran deal and that China has strong ties with Saudi Arabia, which in March was granted dialogue partner status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. —Paolo Confino, Fortune, 11 Oct. 2023

This allegation rests heavily on the testimony of two IRS whistleblowers who accused senior Justice Department officials of slow-walking their investigation, stymying investigators' efforts to pursue leads, and failing to prosecute Hunter Biden to the fullest extent of the law. —Lucien Bruggeman, ABC News, 27 Sep. 2023

Some council aides felt EAA was slow-walking the process or being less than communicative, several said, and SEIU 721 was first contacted about three weeks ago. —Julia Wick, Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2023

The man who has slow-walked and botched the Hunter Biden investigation has now been named the special counsel in the Hunter Biden investigation. —The Editors, National Review, 12 Aug. 2023

While the allegations piled up, the women accused then-Sheriff Bill Gore of protecting his deputy by slow-walking the department investigation. —Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Aug. 2023

Environmentalists accuse regulators of slow-walking new listings to appease critics and say Congress provides too little funding to fulfill the act’s mission. —John Flesher, The Christian Science Monitor, 4 Aug. 2023

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Word History

First Known Use

1965, in the meaning defined above