declaim
verb (used without object)
to speak aloud in an oratorical manner; make a formal speech.
had been declaiming
-
past perfect progressiveof declaim.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.
After they had been declaiming eight hundred years, had they made the world better than when they began?
From Critical and Historical Essays — Volume 2 by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay
His speeches were already in the schoolbooks, and for twenty years boys had been declaiming his arguments against nullification.
From The American Spirit in Literature : a chronicle of great interpreters by Bliss Perry
So soon as the strange being who had been declaiming had disappeared, the Prefect, turning to me, as he drew up his gown around him, said, 'I give you joy, Piso, of your coadjutor.
From Aurelian or, Rome in the Third Century by William Ware
