pussyfooting


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Related to pussyfooting: wussies

puss·y·foot

 (po͝os′ē-fo͝ot′)
intr.v. puss·y·foot·ed, puss·y·foot·ing, puss·y·foots
1. To move stealthily or cautiously.
2. Informal To act or proceed cautiously or timidly to avoid committing oneself.

puss′y·foot′er n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pussyfooting

(ˈpʊsɪˌfʊtɪŋ)
adj
behaving in an excessively cautious way
n
the action of behaving in an excessively too cautious way
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
References in periodicals archive ?
The council might just as well have handed over the cash settlement at the very hint of industrial action instead of pussyfooting around a dispute that it neither had the desire nor resolve to see through.
I am sick of this government pussyfooting around and kow-towing to Germany, France, Brussels and all the rest of the EU who have cost this country so much money, keeping them afloat.
Before his first match back, the no-nonsense Glaswegian has already told his new players he will not be "pussyfooting around with them", nor tolerate any "whingeing".
The President was referring to Ubial's pussyfooting in buying medical supplies for the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police even after the fighting in Marawi City started months ago.
The pussyfooting must stop now and Kenny and Martin must put the country first and engage in meaningful talks.
To order cruel NHS chiefs to stop pussyfooting about.
You've got to put your whole heart and soul up on that stage because they're not having it if you're going to be pussyfooting around.
"This precipitate and unduly harsh action demonstrates the undue haste and priority given to investigations against the Vice President and his family, while pussyfooting on the anomalies perpetrated by Liberal Party and administration allies," Quicho said.
Why can't the world not be honest and say what is plainly true instead of pussyfooting around the edge of the truth while trying to avoid offending the guilty and upsetting the politically sensitive.
Stop pussyfooting around by getting caught up in should-have or what-if thinking.