assert
verb (used with object)
to state with assurance, confidence, or force; state strongly or positively; affirm; aver.
had been asserting
-
past perfect progressiveof assert.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For the 18 months since his resignation as defense secretary in December 2018, Mattis had been asserting a “duty of silence” as a former military commander not to directly criticize the president.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 4, 2020
He admitted, what many had been asserting for weeks, that the Centenary was going to be a big thing; and his social instinct wished him to share in the pride of it.
From Clayhanger by Arnold Bennett
The Declaration embodied every principle he had been asserting, and indeed Cobbett is correct in saying that whoever may have written the Declaration Paine was its author.
From The Life Of Thomas Paine, Vol. I. (of II) With A History of His Literary, Political and Religious Career in America France, and England; to which is added a Sketch of Paine by William Cobbett by Moncure Daniel Conway
Brunhild had been asserting that Siegfried was Gunther's vassal, or, in feudal language, his man.
From The Nibelungenlied Revised Edition by Unknown
The newspapers had been asserting that the new army was being recruited from the flower of England's young manhood.
From Kitchener's Mob Adventures of an American in the British Army by James Norman Hall
