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

For starters, alcohol is by far the biggest source of onboard revenue, so cutting off passengers would make a dent in the airline industry's profits. —Christopher Elliott, USA Today, 3 May 2025

But unlike Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, another franchise event play Friedman ushered to an actual Tony win for Best Play in 2018, Stranger Things did not make a dent in that category. —Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 1 May 2025

And while the Trump administration has targeted the wind industry, rolled back some climate-friendly policies, and griped about solar, the administration’s policies have yet to put a dent on positive job growth in clean jobs. —Umair Irfan, Vox, 21 Apr. 2025

Would a $3,500 U.S.-made iPhone make a dent in sales? —Dev Patnaik, Forbes.com, 22 Apr. 2025