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

Recent Examples on the Web

That could help make a dent in the high figure of 60% of energy that buildings use to cool their internal spaces, especially in warmer places like Singapore and the Middle East. —Abhimanyu Ghoshal, New Atlas, 23 June 2025

The presence of mass warps the fabric of space-time, similar to how a bowling ball would make a dent when placed on a trampoline, according to NASA. —Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 18 June 2025

Debuting in April with all eight episodes dropping at once, Étoile earned mostly positive reviews but failed to make a dent in the Nielsen streaming charts. —Dave Nemetz, TVLine, 6 June 2025

The new Pennbridge hotel could make a dent in that demand, but local hoteliers say the city is still lacking a large-scale hotel with 600 rooms or more that could help bring in bigger conventions or events. —Nick Rosenberger, Idaho Statesman, 4 June 2025