grope
verb (used without object)
to feel about with the hands; feel one's way.
had been groping
-
past perfect progressiveof grope.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.
Here was what Bell had been groping for, on and off since his student days: some quantitative means of distinguishing Bohr's interpretation of quantum mechanics from other coherent, self-consistent possibilities.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 30, 2012
The Right Stuff: that was the name we had been groping for.
From Time Magazine Archive
In fact, Rickeyman Fresco Thompson, onetime Dodger infielder and now assistant director of the Dodgers minor league operations, himself made the crack that traditionalists had been groping for.
From Time Magazine Archive
At the thought of his dead boy fresh light came to Mathieu, a frightful suspicion blazed up amid the terrible obscurity in which he had been groping and doubting.
From Fruitfulness by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly
"Ay, man, Saunders, ay, ay!" said Rob Adair, who, being a more demonstrative man than his friend, had been groping in the tail of his "blacks" for the handkerchief that was in his hat.
From Bog-Myrtle and Peat Tales Chiefly of Galloway Gathered from the Years 1889 to 1895 by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
