slow-walk

verb

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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
However, the two parties ran into trouble; Slam accused Lynk of slow-walking the merger in an attempt to force the deal to fail. Brendan Coffey, Sportico.com, 25 July 2025 The budget office has traditionally leaned on slow-walking filling vacancies as one of its few tools to free up money, and the city ended 2024 with a $161 million deficit and expects a more than $1 billion gap next year. Alice Yin, Chicago Tribune, 22 July 2025 Mindell was castigated by legislative committees for slow-walking efforts to rein in bulk purchasing and the lottery's acceptance of third-party vendors brokering game tickets with smartphone apps, circumventing the state prohibition of using a telephone to play the lottery. John C. Moritz, Austin American Statesman, 9 July 2025 Ironheart, though, has yet to be renewed, and the way that the series — which wrapped filming back in late 2022 — was slow-walked onto our screens has many leery of Marvel’s future plans for Riri & Co. Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 3 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for slow-walk

Word History

First Known Use

1965, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of slow-walk was in 1965

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Cite this Entry

“Slow-walk.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slow-walk. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.

Kids Definition

slow–walk

verb
: to delay or prevent the progress of (something) by acting in a deliberately slow manner
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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