Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The memory producers were printing money the way the U.S.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 6, 2026
A big one: Voters were confused as to why two sheets of paper were printing out.
From The Verge ● Feb. 19, 2020
Within about twenty years there were printing presses in all of the major cities in Western and Southern Europe.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020
Who needed box-office receipts when the company’s cable properties — Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, VH1, CMT, Logo — were printing cash?
From New York Times ● Nov. 10, 2019
Here about him and on Union Street were printing offices.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
