Drawn out, continued, or extended.
Example:
No one was looking forward to a protracted struggle for custody of the baby.
Protracted usually applies to something drawn out in time. A protracted strike may cripple a company; a protracted rainy spell may rot the roots of vegetables. Before Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin discovered vaccines to prevent polio, the many victims of the disease had no choice but to suffer a protracted illness and its permanent aftereffects.