thicken
verb (used with or without object)
to make or become thick or thicker.
had been thickening
-
past perfect progressiveof thicken.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.
All afternoon the seas had been thickening, and now, as they came out on deck, the water was running high and rough.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
The issue of this battle dissipated the clouds at once which had been thickening in that quarter.
From The First White Man of the West Life and Exploits of Col. Dan'l. Boone, the First Settler of Kentucky; Interspersed with Incidents in the Early Annals of the Country. by Timothy Flint
The weather, which had been thickening, grew heavier still in the afternoon, and great banks of clouds were rising out of the west.
From By What Authority? by Robert Hugh Benson
The clouds, which had been thickening for hours, now broke in torrents of rain, and old Alister got into his water-proof oil-skin and souwester, and we into our beds.
From The Cruise of the Betsey or, A Summer Ramble Among the Fossiliferous Deposits of the Hebrides. With Rambles of a Geologist or, Ten Thousand Miles Over the Fossiliferous Deposits of Scotland by W. S. (William Samuel) Symonds
Her sorrows had been thickening fast during the last few months.
From Two Years Ago, Volume II. by Charles Kingsley
