holding pattern
noun1
Aeronautics, Aerospace, Aviation, Business, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A path taken by an aircraft waiting to land.
- The plane flew in a holding pattern for half an hour because one runway was closed.
2
Idiomatic Any failure to advance; useless or unproductive activity.
- This project is in a holding pattern until all the parts arrive.
- All of Sellafield is in a holding pattern, trying to keep waste safe until it can be consigned to the ultimate strongroom: the geological disposal facility (GDF), bored hundreds of metres into the Earth’s rock, a project that could cost another £53bn.December 15 2022, Samanth Subramanian, “Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site”, in The Guardian: