foster
verb (used with object)
to promote the growth or development of; further; encourage.
had been fostering
-
past perfect progressiveof foster.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 issue arose in Texas after the Navajo Nation intervened to block the adoption of a baby by a white couple in Fort Worth who had been fostering the child for nearly a year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2022
Mrs Potter recalls the faces of those parents who adopted the children she had been fostering.
From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2019
My friend stuck with geriatrics, but realized that she had been fostering an idealized notion of the elderly.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 1, 2015
For a considerable time a variety of circumstances had been fostering a growing feeling of enmity between the Italians and the emperors at Constantinople.
From General History for Colleges and High Schools by Philip Van Ness Myers
It was just possible, I thought, that Oscar had been fostering this himself, in case anything went wrong.
From Four-Day Planet by H. Beam Piper
