Dictionary

foot-dragging en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈfʊtˌdɹæɡɪŋ/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From foot + dragging, from drag one’s feet, referring to the idea of walking while dragging one’s feet along the ground, either from lack of enthusiasm or to intentionally slow down movement.

Meanings

1. (also, attributive, uncountable, usually) The deliberate delaying of, or reluctance to take, obligatory action.
   • I am glad to be able to say that common honesty, or some shadowy simulacrum of it, revived presently and sent me back to the hotel, though not without terrible foot-draggings, you may be sure. 1918 April, Francis Lynde, Branded, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 114:
   • Given that (English) politicians are noted for foot-dragging on electrification schemes, will they use these new locomotives simply as an excuse to defer more electrification schemes? 2021 March 24, “Open Access: Waiting for the wires”, in Rail, number 927, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 33:
   • A Beijing diplomat complained China is "fed up with the footdragging" of Burma's strongman, General Than Shwe, and his inner circle, one of the cables, released by WikiLeaks, reported. 2010 December 9, Ewen MacAskill, “WikiLeaks cables: China ‘fed up’ with Burma's footdragging on reforms”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 May 2023:
   • The tactics of pace-setting, foot-dragging, least resistance or fence-sitting could be used either in the making of policy or, later, in its implementation, reflecting types of adaptation[…]. 2005, Clive Archer, “Change, Choice and Conclusions”, in Norway outside the European Union: Norway and European Integration from 1994 to 2004 (Europe and the Nation State), Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 191:
   • Once in the classroom, students also employed foot-dragging strategies to slow the transition from the hall state to the student state. 2008, Maryann Dickar, “‘You Have to Change Your Whole Attitude toward Everything’: Threshold Struggles and Infrapolitical Resistance”, in Corridor Cultures: Mapping Student Resistance at an Urban School (Qualitative Studies in Psychology), New York, N.Y.; London: New York University Press, →ISBN, page 154:

Forms

Relateds

footdragging · delaying tactic · one's ass is dragging · drag one's feet · taildragger · drag one's heels

Synonyms

slowball · slow-walking

Translations (4)

pl celowe opóźnianie (deliberate delaying of, or reluctance to take, obligatory action) · fi jarruttelu (deliberate delaying of, or reluctance to take, obligatory action) · fi hidastelu (deliberate delaying of, or reluctance to take, obligatory action) · fi vitkastelu (deliberate delaying of, or reluctance to take, obligatory action)