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

Critics say the court has slow-walked the case to the point where a trial before the November election is now unlikely, no matter how the justices rule on Trump’s immunity claim. —Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 6 June 2024

Then Trump would have been screaming for his trial to happen ASAP instead of wanting to slow-walk it. —Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 18 Mar. 2024

Currently, department officials often slow-walk or avoid risky initiatives to avoid the reputational damage that accompanies failure, burying promising projects in the process. —Michael C. Horowitz, Foreign Affairs, 19 Apr. 2022

In February, lawyers for the LA Alliance asked Carter to sanction the city for slow-walking its promises. —Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times, 17 May 2024

Davidson also testified to believing Cohen was slow-walking the payout, a suspicion Cohen confirmed on the stand. —Ximena Bustillo, NPR, 14 May 2024

Despite growing demands from some savvy transportation advocates, VTA, an organization with a history of public deceit, is once again slow-walking transparency. —Daniel Borenstein, The Mercury News, 11 May 2024

The pair then were seen slow-walking to the stage as Em asked what the plan was. —Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 26 Apr. 2024

As the Senate continues to slow-walk the legislation, House Minority Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat, has filed her own bill to renew the taxes. —Kacen Bayless, Kansas City Star, 23 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1965, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

slow–walk

verb

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