employ
verb (used with object)
to hire or engage the services of (a person or persons); provide employment for; have or keep in one's service.
had been employing
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past perfect progressiveof employ.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.
Neuroscientist and autism expert Gina Rippon says an increase in late autism diagnoses around the start of this decade revealed the myriad of coping mechanisms women had been employing.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
But that meant that when the recession did come, the means we had been employing to keep juicing growth were insufficient for an actual rescue effort.
From Fox News ● Mar. 25, 2020
“We all had been employing the blacklisted writers,” Mr. Douglas wrote in a 2012 memoir, “I Am Spartacus!: Making a Film, Breaking the Blacklist.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 5, 2020
The Mariners had been employing openers for LeBlanc and Tommy Milone since the beginning of June.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 13, 2019
Dove's brow cleared; he began to believe that the child had really been asleep, and had not seen the peculiar manner in which he had been employing himself for the last ten minutes.
From The Palace Beautiful A Story for Girls by L. T. Meade
