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

While full repeal of the act may be unlikely, an administration hostile to clean energy could divert its unspent funds to other purposes, slow the pace of grants or loans by slow-walking project approvals, or find other ways to make the tax incentives harder to get. —James Morton Turner, Discover Magazine, 9 Nov. 2024

The negotiation of the group’s first contract, however, came with hurdles, as the workers threatened a strike, arguing that negotiations were being slow-walked, before a deal was eventually reached in March 2023. —Katie Kilkenny, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Oct. 2024

Barbra, seeing a farmhouse nearby, runs there for help—only to discover the dead body of the home’s owner—and many slow-walking creatures coming her way. —Jennifer M. Wood, WIRED, 25 Oct. 2024

Cannon has slow-walked the Trump prosecution since the case landed in her lap more than a year ago. —Ruth Marcus, Washington Post, 15 July 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