retrace
verb (used with object)
to trace backward; go back over.
was retracing
-
past progressiveof retrace.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
I was retracing my steps of 20 years earlier to a scene of mass death I had never been able to erase from my mind.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2025
“Well, I was so moved by the whole thing. It was retracing three decades of my life and, obviously, three decades of Jack’s life.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 24, 2019
Grinkrug said she was retracing her steps not out of any particular desire to relive the experience but out of a mixture of gratitude and guilt.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 1, 2017
I was retracing James Baldwin’s steps through Paris, while asking myself where Baldwin might be living if he were in the city now.
From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2014
In real life, Weary was retracing his steps, trying to find out what had happened to Billy.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
