cost
noun
the price paid to acquire, produce, accomplish, or maintain anything.
had been costing
-
past perfect progressiveof cost.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 UAE’s relaxing of fuel subsidies in 2015, which had been costing the government billions of dollars, put the country at the forefront of long-delayed fiscal reforms in the region as oil prices slumped.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 11, 2022
The two hundred no-show positions were eliminated, but, according to a senior project manager, they had been costing a thousand dollars a day each for an unknown number of years.
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 2, 2018
“Thus the lease turned a building that had been costing taxpayers millions of dollars per year into a revenue-generating asset,” Terry wrote.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 23, 2017
Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia, took over a solid-waste disposal program that had been costing taxpayers $1 million a year.
From Time Magazine Archive
She struck him as making light of a matter that had been costing him sundry qualms; so that they couldn't both be quite just.
From The Wings of the Dove, Volume II by Henry James
