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Example: If a woman is asked to get married and tries to get time to answer because she feels insecure but doesn't want to say it. I could tell she's stalling the man. But if I wanted to sound more natural, what should I say?

What would it be the most popular ways (not slang) to put it?

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    "Keeping him waiting for an answer"?
    – Kate Bunting
    Aug 15, 2021 at 13:20
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    A common idiomatic usage in this context is She's playing for time (trying to make something happen later instead of sooner). It's "popular, colloquial", but I wouldn't say the usage is "slang". It's not very "formal" though - that would be temporize.
    – FumbleFingers
    Aug 15, 2021 at 17:43

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"Stalling" is the ideal word:

speak or act in a deliberately vague way in order to gain more time to deal with something; prevaricate. (oxford)

It is usually intransitive. "She is stalling the man for time.

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Another common phrase is "putting him off". Ex: He asked her several times for her decision, but she kept putting him off.

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