See foot-dragging in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
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"etymology_text": "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.",
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"foot-drag‧ging"
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"ref": "1918 April, Francis Lynde, Branded, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 114:",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quote"
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{
"ref": "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:",
"text": "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[…].",
"type": "quote"
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"ref": "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:",
"text": "Once in the classroom, students also employed foot-dragging strategies to slow the transition from the hall state to the student state.",
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"ref": "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 2023-05-17:",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quote"
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{
"ref": "2021 March 24, “Open Access: Waiting for the wires”, in Rail, number 927, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 33:",
"text": "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?",
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"The deliberate delaying of, or reluctance to take, obligatory action."
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"(also attributive) The deliberate delaying of, or reluctance to take, obligatory action."
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"word": "slowball"
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"word": "slow-walking"
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"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "deliberate delaying of, or reluctance to take, obligatory action",
"word": "hidastelu"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "deliberate delaying of, or reluctance to take, obligatory action",
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"word": "foot-dragging"
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"etymology_text": "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.",
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"type": "quote"
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{
"ref": "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:",
"text": "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[…].",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "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:",
"text": "Once in the classroom, students also employed foot-dragging strategies to slow the transition from the hall state to the student state.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "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 2023-05-17:",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2021 March 24, “Open Access: Waiting for the wires”, in Rail, number 927, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 33:",
"text": "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?",
"type": "quote"
}
],
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"The deliberate delaying of, or reluctance to take, obligatory action."
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"(also attributive) The deliberate delaying of, or reluctance to take, obligatory action."
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"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "deliberate delaying of, or reluctance to take, obligatory action",
"word": "hidastelu"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "deliberate delaying of, or reluctance to take, obligatory action",
"word": "jarruttelu"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "deliberate delaying of, or reluctance to take, obligatory action",
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],
"word": "foot-dragging"
}
Download raw JSONL data for foot-dragging meaning in English (4.3kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-21 using wiktextract (fef8596 and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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