permit
verb (used with object)
to allow to do something.
had been permitting
-
past perfect progressiveof permit.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.
However, it could not fulfill the state law requiring a hospital transfer agreement, and the state later declined to renew the “variance,” or exception, that had been permitting the clinic to operate.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 21, 2014
With a shock he realized that even now he had been permitting himself to hope, futile as he recognized the hope to be.
From A Damsel in Distress by P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse
She saw that while she had been considering herself an unusually good mistress, she had been permitting her friends Bea and Oscarina to live in a sty.
From Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
Titania wondered, a little panic-stricken, whether she had been permitting herself to be satisfied with husks.
From The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley
