Definition of "foot-dragging" []

• Failure to take prompt or required action: "The inquiry should be thorough and objective, while working fast enough to avoid any suspicion of foot-dragging” ( Economist). (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "What some call foot-dragging Mrs Merkel regards as creative obstruction."
• "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."
• "A more efficient system is on the doorstep of our most stubborn, foot-dragging sector: government."