slow-walk

verb

To delay a request or command, to drag one's feet, to stall, to obstruct, to drag out a process.

Similar
drag one's feetslow roll
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Meanings

slow-walk1

verbslow-walk (third-person singular simple present slow-walks, present participle slow-walking, simple past and past participle slow-walked)

present singular third person slow-walks · participle present slow-walking · participle past slow-walked · past slow-walked · alternative slow walk

  1. especiallyidiomatictransitivegovernmentTo delay a request or command, to drag one's feet, to stall, to obstruct, to drag out a process.

    Since assuming office, Trump has issued many private demands to aides that have either been slow-walked or altogether ignored.

    2019 May 15, Elaina Plott, “Ignoring Trump’s Orders, Hoping He’ll Forget”, in The Atlantic
    2 more examples

    many of the men were simply standing around and were purposely ‘slow-walking’ the project […] to stretch out the term of employment.

    1973, testimony in United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit case (regarding labor dispute)

    Mr. Pulte argued that Mr. Siebert was slow-walking the James case in order to get confirmed by the Senate for a job in a state with two Democratic senators, according to people briefed on the conversation.

    2025 September 27, “Inside the Trump Administration’s Push to Prosecute James Comey”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

    Synonyms: drag one's feet, slow roll

slow-walk2

verbslow-walk (third-person singular simple present slow-walks, present participle slow-walking, simple past and past participle slow-walked)

present singular third person slow-walks · participle present slow-walking · participle past slow-walked · past slow-walked

  1. transitiveTo punish, to chastise.

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo delay a request or command, to drag one's feet, to stall, to obstruct, to drag out a process.

Similar
drag one's feetslow roll
Also see
drag one's feet

Origin

slow-walk · verb

Attested since 1973 in Southern dialects of American English; prominent since the late 1990s. Thought by William Safire to derive from a Tennessee term for the walking gait of the Tennessee Walking Horse, which is generally called "flat walk", but sometimes a "slow walk".

Full word history & related roots →

slow-walk · verb

Attested since 1962 in Southern (North and South Carolina) dialects of American English; of unknown origin.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

slow-walk. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slow-walk

MLA

“slow-walk.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slow-walk. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “slow-walk,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slow-walk.

Source: slow-walk on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.