expend
verb (used with object)
to use up.
had been expending
-
past perfect progressiveof expend.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.
They have learned — in a bold, new, public way — how much energy they had been expending and exhausting and wasting in the tortured art of hiding.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 24, 2018
So Mr. Colbert focused on the comedy and his performance, and Mr. Licht dealt with management issues that the host had been expending energy on: staffing, budgets, sales meetings, the works.
From New York Times ● Apr. 9, 2017
Mayor Walker meantime, had been expending his energies upon "drafting" a new police commissioner.
From Time Magazine Archive
That capital of forces which human thought had been expending in edifices, it henceforth expends in books.
From Notre-Dame De Paris by Isabel Florence Hapgood
We figured out that we could get two handsome rooms and board for no more, and perhaps even a trifle less, than we had been expending on the doubtful luxury of apartment life.
From The Van Dwellers A Strenuous Quest for a Home by Albert Bigelow Paine
