wield
verb (used with object)
to exercise (power, authority, influence, etc.), as in ruling or dominating.
had been wielding
-
past perfect progressiveof wield.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.
He was trying to convince career prosecutors that they had been wielding their enormous power wrongly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2022
He said he had been wielding the brush for six hours straight.
From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2011
It was apparent last week that the pledge was soon to come due, despite the determination with which the 82-year-old Generalissimo clung to the absolute power he had been wielding for nearly four decades.
From Time Magazine Archive
Jane bounded to her feet, seized her feather duster, which implement she had been wielding when the fatal telegram had been handed in, and scuttled down the back hall.
From Ben Pepper by Margaret Sidney
French now took in hand the Drive, the last weapon left in the British Armoury, which his colleagues in the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony had been wielding for some months.
From A Handbook of the Boer War With General Map of South Africa and 18 Sketch Maps and Plans by
