seéloignaient

Sééloignaient is a French verb meaning "they were moving away" or "they were distancing themselves." It is the third-person plural imperfect indicative form of the verb s'éloigner. The imperfect tense in French is used to describe ongoing actions or states in the past, habitual actions, or descriptive background information.

The verb s'éloigner itself is a reflexive verb, derived from the adjective éloigné, meaning distant or far. As a reflexive verb, it implies that the subject is performing the action on itself, or that the action is happening between multiple subjects. In the context of "sééloignaient," it suggests that a group of people or things were in the process of increasing their distance from a particular point or from each other.

Examples of its use could include describing people leaving a location, such as "Les voyageurs sééloignaient de la gare" (The travelers were moving away from the station). It could also describe emotional or relational distancing, for instance, "Les amis sééloignaient à cause de leurs différences" (The friends were distancing themselves because of their differences). The imperfect tense emphasizes the duration or ongoing nature of this separation.