preside
verb (used without object)
to occupy the place of authority or control, as in an assembly or meeting; act as president or chairperson.
were presiding
-
past progressiveof preside.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.
“We realized that we were presiding over these kingdoms of dark data.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 23, 2023
Three judges were presiding over the appeals court in Krasnogorsk near Moscow, where Griner was represented by her lawyers Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov.
From Reuters ● Oct. 25, 2022
By June, Mr. Shchurko and Mr. Metelskiy were presiding over mountains of foam core boards and reams of plastic film that filled the lobby of a university library: humanitarian aid of a more cultural kind.
From New York Times ● Aug. 8, 2022
The paralysis has been extraordinary, not least because of May’s insistence upon behaving as if she were presiding over a functioning body, rather than one undergoing an unprecedented disintegration.
From The New Yorker ● May 24, 2019
Vice-Presidents Wheeler, Morton and Stevenson, and more lately, Mr. Frye, asserted their authority with as little show of force as if they were presiding over a company of guests at their own table.
From Autobiography of Seventy Years, Vol. 1-2 by George Frisbie Hoar
