were appropriating
- past progressive of appropriate.
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.
The OED traced the origin of woke’s newer definition to a 1962 New York Times article by Black author William Melvin Kelley describing how white beatniks were appropriating Black slang at the time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 29, 2023
No matter how goodhearted the sisters, they argued, they were appropriating the victims’ sacred memory.
From Newsweek ● Aug. 8, 2010
She complained that some of the men, "Burners," had got into her smoke-house and were appropriating her hams.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 95, September 1865 by Various
For from the moment of his appearance he took the reins of government, as it were, appropriating the pulpit and launching his bolts therefrom, with the full consent and encouragement of the other.
From At a Winter's Fire by Capes, Bernard Edward Joseph
Then, after the Restoration, the landlords conceived the idea of appropriating the right of representation, as they had appropriated and were appropriating the common lands.
From The Emancipation of Massachusetts by Adams, Brooks
