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
That was the thought for which she had been groping.
From The Builders by Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow
Then the plan for which he had been groping flashed into his brain.
From The Black Star A Detective Story by Johnston McCulley
