turtle-crawl approach

8.2

A very slow way of doing something that wastes time

noun

Informal

: enfoque lento

The company suffered from a turtle-crawl approach to innovation for years.

Examples

The project was delayed due to a turtle-crawl approach to development.
Her turtle-crawl approach to learning new things made progress very slow.
Relying on a turtle-crawl approach won't help us meet the urgent deadline.
We need to avoid the turtle-crawl approach if we want to stay competitive.
Can we avoid a turtle-crawl approach in our next meeting?
The team's turtle-crawl approach to completing the report frustrated the manager.
Using a turtle-crawl approach to resolve issues can lead to missed opportunities.

Synonyms

crawl

vsturtle-crawl approach

19 2.7

A very slow movement, often of traffic or of a project

is about a slow method that is also inefficient rather than only slow

dawdling

vsturtle-crawl approach

4 6.5

Slow, unnecessary movement or delay that wastes time

is a slow inefficient method that need not be deliberate or intentional

Antonyms

fast track

19 3.9

A quick route to success or promotion

How Slow

turtle-crawl approach

Informal

8.2

sluggishly

3 3.6

slow

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

turtle-crawl approach singular

turtle-crawl approaches plural

Morphology

turtle-crawl + approach

The modifier 'turtle-crawl' transparently evokes extreme slowness because 'turtle' denotes a slow animal and 'crawl' denotes very slow movement; combined with 'approach' (method/strategy) the phrase clearly means a very slow or inefficient method. This compositional metaphor is straightforward and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can reliably infer the meaning.

Etymology

The phrase turtle-crawl approach comes from the image of a turtle slowly crawling along, barely moving forward. That picture explains why the phrase means a method that is 'very slow' or 'inefficient'.