I kicked the side of the car and made a dent in it.
•Please don't make a dent in the side of the house.
2. Fig. to use only a little of something; to make a small amount of progress with something. •Look at what's left on your plate! You hardly made a dent in your dinner.
•I've been slaving all day, and I have hardly made a dent in my work.
Dictionary of American idioms. 2013.
make a dent in something — informal phrase to reduce the amount of something a strategy for making a dent in the crime statistics Thesaurus: to reduce somethingsynonym Main entry: dent * * * make, etc. a ˈdent in sth … Useful english dictionary
make a dent in something — make a dent in (something) British, American & Australian, American to reduce the amount or level of something. The roof repairs made quite a dent in our savings. Police efforts have hardly put a dent in the level of drug trafficking on the… … New idioms dictionary
make a dent in something — informal to reduce the amount of something a strategy for making a dent in the crime statistics … English dictionary
make a dent in — (something) British, American & Australian, American to reduce the amount or level of something. The roof repairs made quite a dent in our savings. Police efforts have hardly put a dent in the level of drug trafficking on the streets. (often… … New idioms dictionary
make/put a dent — ◇ In figurative use, to make a dent (in something) or to put a dent in something is to decrease something slightly or to make it somewhat weaker. We tried our best to fix the problem, but nothing we did seems to have made a dent. [=nothing we did … Useful english dictionary
dent — dent1 [ dent ] noun count a place where a surface has been pushed or knocked inward make a dent in something INFORMAL to reduce the amount of something dent dent 2 [ dent ] verb transitive 1. ) to make a dent in a surface: The impact had dented… … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
dent — I UK [dent] / US noun [countable] Word forms dent : singular dent plural dents a place where a surface has been pushed or knocked inwards • make a dent in something II UK [dent] / US verb [transitive] Word forms dent : present tense I/you/we/they … English dictionary
make — make1 W1S1 [meık] v past tense and past participle made [meıd] ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(produce)¦ 2¦(do)¦ 3¦(cook)¦ 4¦(cause)¦ 5¦(force)¦ 6¦(mark/hole etc)¦ 7 make it 8 make the meeting/the party/Tuesday etc 9¦(achieve something)¦ … Dictionary of contemporary English
make — make1 [ meık ] (past tense and past participle made [ meıd ] ) verb *** ▸ 1 create/produce something ▸ 2 do/say something ▸ 3 cause something to happen ▸ 4 force someone to do something ▸ 5 arrange something ▸ 6 earn/get money ▸ 7 give a total ▸… … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
make — I UK [meɪk] / US verb Word forms make : present tense I/you/we/they make he/she/it makes present participle making past tense made UK [meɪd] / US past participle made *** Get it right: make: When make means to cause or force someone to do… … English dictionary
dent — [[t]de̱nt[/t]] dents, denting, dented 1) VERB If you dent the surface of something, you make a hollow area in it by hitting or pressing it. [V n] A great chunk of loose kerbing smashed into my left front wheel, bursting the tyre and denting the… … English dictionary
