bicker
verb (used without object)
to engage in petulant or peevish argument; wrangle.
had been bickering
-
past perfect progressiveof bicker.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.
Before Sam Altman was ousted from OpenAI last week, he and the company’s board of directors had been bickering for more than a year.
From New York Times ● Nov. 21, 2023
For years, local politicians had been bickering about constructing a new bridge.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 12, 2023
Graham Piper said the two jockeys had been "bickering" but he had not seen evidence of bullying by any riders.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2021
The pessimistic meta-induction and the no-miracles argument formed a kind of stalemate, and philosophers had been bickering about it ever since.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 31, 2014
They had been bickering a lot lately, but wasn’t that just stress over moving, selling the house, and trying to find something in Los Angeles they could afford?
From "Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story" by Nora Raleigh Baskin
