melt
verb (used without object)
to become liquefied by warmth or heat, as ice, snow, butter, or metal.
had been melting
-
past perfect progressiveof melt.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.
Ice sheets had been melting across the globe due to global warming, which also made lands drier and hotter.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2023
Professor Lonnie Thompson indicated on TV that a glacier in South America had been melting for some time revealed a plant that was estimated to be 5000 years old.
From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2018
Wet snow had been melting as it fell and, about midafternoon, sun stabbed through the overcast.
From Time Magazine Archive
This gave us time to breathe, and we wanted it too, for the regiment had been melting away like an icicle in the sun.
From The Great Shadow and Other Napoleonic Tales by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir
The mass of stone, that had been melting under the invisible ray, cooled to red, then to black.
From Two Thousand Miles Below by Diffin, Charles Willard
