mine
pronoun
a form of the possessive case of I used as a predicate adjective.
had been mining
-
past perfect progressiveof mine.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.
"We had been mining there for about two years," he said, "but we had no luck, so we closed the mine for a year. We had started another mine right next to it."
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
The nuclear material came from an unidentified leader of an “ethic insurgent group” in Myanmar who had been mining uranium in the country, according to prosecutors.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
When the corporate incursion to the valley began in earnest, in 2003 or so, local farmers had been mining the aquifer gently for the last 60 years.
From New York Times ● Jul. 19, 2018
Hours earlier, the Guardian reported that the NSA had been mining phone records from millions of customers of a subsidiary of Verizon Communications.
From Reuters ● Jun. 8, 2013
He had been mining in the snow mountains, far up in British Columbia, and joined us to go down on the steamer to Colville.
From Life at Puget Sound: With Sketches of Travel in Washington Territory, British Columbia, Oregon and California by Caroline C. Leighton
