retrace
verb (used with object)
to trace backward; go back over.
were 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.
When Welsh writer Iain Sinclair set out for the Peruvian Amazon with his daughter in 2019, the pair were retracing a journey his great-grandfather, a traveling planter and writer, described in an 1895 book.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 4, 2021
“It was like we were retracing their steps,” she said.
From New York Times ● Aug. 17, 2015
They were retracing Charles Howard’s youthful journey, thirty years later.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Her thoughts were retracing the roads of time, and after the way of age she spoke them aloud imperiously she had forgotten her company.
From The Path of the King by John Buchan
And it was not until we had gazed to the full and were retracing our steps in silence through the plantation that I cared to speak of the events of the night.
From Mr. Marx's Secret by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim
