gratify
verb (used with object)
to give pleasure to (a person or persons) by satisfying desires or humoring inclinations or feelings.
had been gratifying
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past perfect progressiveof gratify.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.
Now she has what she kiddingly calls a “claim to fame,” even if Aug. 15 had been gratifying but tame.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 9, 2022
To observe the symptoms of their rustic terror, even of their hatred and detestation, had been gratifying to them.
From Lives of the Necromancers by William Godwin
It had been gratifying to him to find how easily his past reputation carried the matter of the vast credits needed, how absolutely his new board deferred to his judgment.
From Dangerous Days by Mary Roberts Rinehart
The girls' school numbered about thirty pupils, whose progress in study had been gratifying, and there had often been deep feeling under religious instruction.
From History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions To The Oriental Churches, Volume II. by Rufus Anderson
His success in the preliminary straggle had been gratifying, considering the great disproportion of numbers, but he indulged no expectation of a retrograde movement across the Rapidan, on the part of General Grant.
From A Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee by John Esten Cooke
