From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdrawn-outˌdrawn-ˈout adjective LONG TIMEtaking more time than usual or more time than you would like The government wants to avoid a long drawn-out war against the rebel forces.
Examples from the Corpus
drawn-out• Traditionally, the making of tamales is a long, drawn-out affair, requiring several hands and many hours.• A drawn-out battle of wills began, with my having to stone-wall both in London and on visits to Moscow.• The general had held on to power for nine years, and it had been a long drawn-out battle.• In January, the teams finally ended their drawn-out discussions with a map that clearly marks the boundary.• But the movie crawls to a halt and goes over the top in a drawn-out finale inside an empty hotel.• Policy-making is inevitably, and universally, a long, drawn-out process which involves many people within the organisation.• He used to be asked long, drawn-out questions that went on and on.long drawn-out• The general had held on to power for nine years, and it had been a long drawn-out battle.• After the long drawn-out years of waiting suddenly the war was going well on all fronts and the end was in sight. 