prospect
noun
Usually prospects
had been prospecting
-
past perfect progressiveof prospect.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.
In July 2007, a miner who had been prospecting for lead and gold in a Ugandan cave became infected with Marburg virus.
From Nature ● Oct. 28, 2014
The co-op board had been prospecting for water to run its air-conditioning system in case the city declared a full-fledged drought emergency in the summer.
From New York Times ● Dec. 28, 2010
But I had myself so well in hand that I tackled the door as if I had been prospecting to sink a new shaft in Rhodesia.
From Mr. Standfast by John Buchan
He had been prospecting in British America in the region of the Klondike, and was full of incidental conversation.
From The Man Between, an International Romance by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
The passengers were few in number, only a couple of Mexican miners who had been prospecting, an irritable old Mexican woman, and a German doctor, who was agreeable but elusive.
From Vanished Arizona by Martha Summerhayes
