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
But the chaos put a dent in their plans for training and recovery ahead of Wednesday’s game.
—
Daniel Sperry, Kansas City Star, 5 May 2024
More affordable models driven partly by falling battery prices could encourage more drivers to make a switch and could even help make a dent in the Biden Administration’s goal of having 50 percent of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 1 May 2024
There is, however, a widespread and underused class of real estate that holds the potential to make a dent in this figure.
—Irina Ivanova, Fortune, 13 Apr. 2024
With mentorship from the N.W.A star, Yo-Yo delivered a trio of albums that received critical acclaim but failed to make a dent on the Billboard 200.
—Liz Sanchez, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2024
Plastic producers need to make a dent in the problem
The Great Lakes don't have currents like oceans do, so the litter that people see didn't wash up from far away.
—Caitlin Looby, Journal Sentinel, 11 Apr. 2024
The incident was nothing short of perverse: Israel targeted and killed people trying to make a dent in the imminent famine that Israel itself has engineered as part of its strategy to demoralize and destroy, in whole or in part*, the Palestinian population.
—Longreads, 5 Apr. 2024
Overall, the advanced recycling plants are struggling to make a dent in the roughly 36 million tons of plastic Americans discard each year, which is more than any other country.
—Hiroko Tabuchi, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2024
Cloud Apartments hopes to use its affordable housing approach to make a dent in the housing woes nationwide.
—George Avalos, The Mercury News, 4 Apr. 2024
Daniel Sperry, Kansas City Star, 5 May 2024
More affordable models driven partly by falling battery prices could encourage more drivers to make a switch and could even help make a dent in the Biden Administration’s goal of having 50 percent of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 1 May 2024
There is, however, a widespread and underused class of real estate that holds the potential to make a dent in this figure.
—Irina Ivanova, Fortune, 13 Apr. 2024
With mentorship from the N.W.A star, Yo-Yo delivered a trio of albums that received critical acclaim but failed to make a dent on the Billboard 200.
—Liz Sanchez, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2024
Plastic producers need to make a dent in the problem
The Great Lakes don't have currents like oceans do, so the litter that people see didn't wash up from far away.
—Caitlin Looby, Journal Sentinel, 11 Apr. 2024
The incident was nothing short of perverse: Israel targeted and killed people trying to make a dent in the imminent famine that Israel itself has engineered as part of its strategy to demoralize and destroy, in whole or in part*, the Palestinian population.
—Longreads, 5 Apr. 2024
Overall, the advanced recycling plants are struggling to make a dent in the roughly 36 million tons of plastic Americans discard each year, which is more than any other country.
—Hiroko Tabuchi, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2024
Cloud Apartments hopes to use its affordable housing approach to make a dent in the housing woes nationwide.
—George Avalos, The Mercury News, 4 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'make/put a dent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near 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 10 May. 2024.
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