How to Use tick away/by/past in a Sentence

tick away/by/past

phrasal verb

• But, as the minutes tick by—more than eighty of them, by my count—the appeal of the pastiche wears thin.
  — Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2022
• Send a double-team past the arc as the final seconds tick away?
  — Dallas News, 19 Mar. 2022
• But as the days to Christmas tick away, there may not be enough time to find every Christmas movie to stream.
  — Olivia Munson, USA TODAY, 13 Nov. 2022
• At the same time, frustration and anger at the pace of the response has been growing as the days tick by, said Braggins.
  — Chris Kenning, USA TODAY, 4 Mar. 2023
• Yet Angelos is leaving a city with scars from the Colts’ exit to stew as the days tick away.
  — Nathan Ruiz, Baltimore Sun, 28 Aug. 2023
• Yet, as the minutes, weeks and months tick by, the memory of a life cut short has grown stronger in the minds of those who knew Norman as well as those who did not.
  — Ethan Ehrenhaft, Baltimore Sun, 27 June 2023
• Ayn Rand, one presumes, would heartily approve — as the long minutes tick by.
  — Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 18 Mar. 2022
• People like someone who doesn’t make noise, who lets the clock tick away while their career slowly slips from their fingers.
  — Corbin Smith, Rolling Stone, 28 Sep. 2023
• As the years tick by, hopes of democracy recede and murderous calamity spreads.
  — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 3 May 2023
• However, reports of these incredible rescues have slowed as the hours tick by since the quake.
  — Amarachi Orie, CNN, 12 Feb. 2023
• For one, an enormous amount of thought has clearly been put into each line, which, among other things, keeps characters looking the same as years tick by.
  — Blake Nelson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 July 2023
• As the minutes tick by, the clocks — mounted on sidewalks, in church towers, or hanging over storefronts — keep their own erratic time.
  — Mike Damiano, BostonGlobe.com, 15 June 2023
• Baseball, famously known as a sport without a clock, is watching the hours and minutes tick away until Monday.
  — Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press, 27 Feb. 2022
• The silent minutes tick by, but everyone from O’Hara to the couple onstage to the audience clearly want to stretch this sweet sequence out for as long as possible.
  — Helen Shaw, Vulture, 25 Jan. 2022
• Multiple countries aiding a search effort as hours tick by.
  — David Oliver, USA TODAY, 21 June 2023
• As the days tick by toward an execution date that may never arrive, life passes slowly.
  — David Fleshler, Sun Sentinel, 3 Sep. 2022
• Afterwards, clean the area with rubbing alcohol or soap and water and get rid of the tick by putting it in alcohol or a sealed bag, wrapping it tightly in tape, or flushing it down the toilet.
  — Carolyn L. Todd, SELF, 17 Mar. 2022
• But as always, act fast with online orders today because inventory will inevitably run out as the hours tick by.
  — Jennifer Chan, PEOPLE.com, 29 Nov. 2021
• What’s new in the terminals, including restaurants Waiting for food while precious minutes tick away is never fun.
  — Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times, 4 July 2023
• But there's no harm in asking because most of us know the sweat-inducing feeling of standing there watching someone struggle to take their laptop out of their carry-on while the minutes tick by.
  — Natalia Senanayake, Peoplemag, 9 Aug. 2023
• And, just like that, as the final moments of the regular season tick away, the Golden State Warriors are finally — or almost finally — complete.
  — Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 4 Apr. 2023
• As the months tick by, collaborators’ frustration grows.
  — Elias Leight, Billboard, 15 Feb. 2024
• Maverick as the project and projection of one of the last movie stars, a movie that will contort itself in every way possible to make Cruise more gleamingly dominant than ever before, even as the years tick by for him and for all of us.
  — Vulture, 29 May 2022
• The workers who had been processing ballots for hours gradually leave, the cohort of sheriff’s deputies assigned to keep the area secure dwindles, and all but two of those who signed up to be observers peel off as the hours between updates tick by.
  — Blake Apgar, The Salt Lake Tribune, 12 Nov. 2022
• Wash your hands and clean the affected area with alcohol or soap and water. Dispose of the live tick by placing it in alcohol, sealing it in a plastic bag or container, wrapping it in tape, or flushing it down the toilet.
  — Health Editorial Team, Health, 21 Apr. 2023
• But as days tick by and another summer recess looms, scientists and advocates are increasingly alarmed — and frustrated — that the White House isn’t putting more pressure on Sanders to schedule her hearing.
  — Sarah Owermohle, STAT, 10 July 2023

Last Updated: 2 Nov 2024