make/put a dent
idiom
: to decrease something slightly or to make something somewhat weaker
We tried our best to fix the problem, but nothing we did seems to have made a dent.
—often + inIt's going to take more than a new law to make a dent in the city's drug crime.
a vacation that won't put too big a dent in your wallet
Examples of make/put a dent in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Would a $3,500 U.S.-made iPhone make a dent in sales?
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Dev Patnaik, Forbes.com, 22 Apr. 2025
Ryan Johnson, interim chief executive of the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, is tasked with spending those dollars to finally make a dent in the region’s unrelenting homelessness crisis.
—Liam Dillon, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2025
Eliminating it isn’t going to make a dent in America’s $2 trillion deficit.
—The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 13 Apr. 2025
With big gains in benchmarks and vibes, this might be the first Google model that can make a dent in ChatGPT's dominance.
—ArsTechnica, 4 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for make/put a dent
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Dev Patnaik, Forbes.com, 22 Apr. 2025
Ryan Johnson, interim chief executive of the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, is tasked with spending those dollars to finally make a dent in the region’s unrelenting homelessness crisis.
—Liam Dillon, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2025
Eliminating it isn’t going to make a dent in America’s $2 trillion deficit.
—The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 13 Apr. 2025
With big gains in benchmarks and vibes, this might be the first Google model that can make a dent in ChatGPT's dominance.
—ArsTechnica, 4 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for make/put a dent
Cite this Entry
“Make/put a dent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/make%2Fput%20a%20dent. Accessed 29 Apr. 2025.
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