compress
verb (used with object)
to press together; force into less space.
were compressing
-
past progressiveof compress.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.
Meanwhile, in literature, Marcel Proust was using memory to complicate more straightforward storytelling, and it wouldn’t be long before modernists like Woolf and Joyce were compressing, dilating, and folding time in half.
From New York Times ● Sep. 26, 2016
The attending wandered in as I began to remove the lamina, the back wall of the vertebrae, whose bony overgrowths, along with ligaments beneath, were compressing the nerves.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 11, 2016
Viktor Palus, a neurology specialist who carried out her surgery, said he had to "remove several blood clots and fracture fragments which were compressing her spinal cord".
From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2013
His shoulders hunched and his neck sank into them, as if he were compressing under the weight of Dad’s praise.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Gordon Makimmon’s head throbbed, suddenly paining him—it was as though sharp, malicious fingers were compressing the spine at the base of his brain.
From Mountain Blood A Novel by Joseph Hergesheimer
