auction
noun
a publicly held sale at which property or goods are sold to the highest bidder.
had been auctioning
-
past perfect progressiveof auction.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.
The seller, it turned out, had been auctioning coins that had been cleaned or artificially altered—a serious flaw that graders flag and collectors shun, rendering the coins nearly impossible to resell at a profit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
