had been increasing
- past perfect progressive of increase.
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 group had been increasing their production quotas through most of last year, but paused those increases for the first quarter of 2026 due to concerns about a global supply surplus.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 2, 2026
The numbers in hotels had been increasing since 2020, and reached a peak of more than 50,000 in 2023.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2025
Rates had been increasing by 2% to 3% a year, but they jumped by 8% in January 2023, another 5% in July 2023 and 10% last January.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2024
Gonorrhea had been increasing steadily after a historical low in 2009, but appeared to decline in 2022, dropping to about 648,000 cases from more than 700,000 the year before.
From New York Times ● Jan. 30, 2024
Mr. Gromme reported that calls and letters about dead and dying birds had been increasing steadily during the years since spraying began in Wisconsin.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
