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 + in
It'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

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Dreo ChefMaker Most known for its portable space heaters and fans, Dreo is beginning to make a dent in the kitchen appliance market. Andrew Watman, Forbes, 8 Jan. 2025 Bimestefer says the state created a new way to escalate reviews and is expanding automation to make a dent in the backlog. Jesse Kirsch, NBC News, 31 Dec. 2024 Sustainability efforts won’t make a dent if companies are chasing production growth year after year. Marina Lopes, TIME, 18 Dec. 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, 18 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for make/put a dent 

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Cite this Entry

“Make/put a dent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/make%2Fput%20a%20dent. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.

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