drawn-out, a bruising, drawn-out brawl, lengthy, gradual, prolonged, protracted, take-away

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• Ahead of what could be a bruising, drawn-out brawl, Western allies raced to deliver increasingly heavy, long-range arms to Ukraine. Here’s the latest.

Mayor Bloomberg's Blind Spot

By JOE NOCERA

The real take-away from the drawn-out decision on the marathon.

Nortel to Sell Telecom Unit to Avaya

Avaya agreed to acquire a Nortel business that makes phone systems for businesses for $900 million, plus an additional $15 million for an employee-retention program, marking the end of a drawn-out auction for the operation.

Microsoft, Yahoo Reach Search Deal

Yahoo and Microsoft agreed to a 10-year search partnership, a deal that ends a protracted dance and unites the pair against Google.

Fed Leaders Issue Bleak Forecast
It could take years for the nation to fully bounce back from the recession, according to new projections by leaders of the Federal Reserve, who indicated that even once the economy starts expanding again, it will be an "unusually gradual and prolonged" recovery.
(By Neil Irwin and Annys Shin, The Washington Post)



Now Hiring: Lehman

Lehman Brothers has become a hot source of work for finance professionals needed for the lengthy process of dissolving the firm.

lengthy adjective
continuing for a long time:
a lengthy discussion/process
Many airline passengers face lengthy delays because of the strike.


The adjective drawn-out has 2 meanings:
Meaning #1: relatively long in duration; tediously protracted
Synonyms: extended, lengthy, prolonged, protracted
drawn-out　a. 長引く, 引き延ばされた. 
[形]延々と続く.

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama began fortifying for a drawn-out and expensive campaign.

Meaning #2: (used of speech) uttered slowly with prolonged vowels Synonym: drawling

gradual 
adjective
happening or changing slowly over a long period of time or distance:
There has been a gradual improvement in our sales figures over the last two years.
As you go further south, you will notice a gradual change of climate.

prolong 
verb [T]
to make something last a longer time:
We were having such a good time that we decided to prolong our stay by another week.
She chewed each delicious mouthful as slowly as she could, prolonging the pleasure.

prolongation noun [U]

prolonged 
adjective
continuing for a long time:
Prolonged use of the drug is known to have harmful side-effects.

protracted
a.
Prolonged; continued.
Protracted meeting,a religious meeting continued for many successive days. [U. S.]
-- Pro·tract·ed·ly, adv. -- Pro·tract·ed·ness, n.