Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Outside the capital's national police facility known as Zone 7, family members had chained themselves to prison gates, while some had spent weeks sleeping in tents.
From Barron's ● Mar. 8, 2026
Pet owners arrived at the Brentwood dog park one October morning to find that federal police had chained the gate shut.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2024
Stories she has been told, include of MacDonald taking a pair of wire cutters with him on walks so he could open gates a local landowner had chained up to prevent public access to land.
From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2024
I'd been interviewing protesters who had chained themselves to pumping equipment at a pipeline being built in northern Minnesota by a Canadian company.
From Salon ● May 22, 2022
But having once broken the spell which had chained his tongue, and meeting a resisting will, his own grew stronger and more determined.
From Helen and Arthur or, Miss Thusa's Spinning Wheel by Caroline Lee Hentz
