How to Use make/put a dent in a Sentence

make/put a dent

phrase
  • Sharp rings and finger nails couldn’t make a dent in these tights.
    L.a. Hubilla, People.com, 19 Dec. 2024
  • As drastic as that sounds, even that will barely make a dent.
    Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News, 22 June 2024
  • One or two might make a dent in the numbers at the first debate this week.
    Trip Gabriel, New York Times, 22 Aug. 2023
  • The free passes put a dent in his pitch count, but the Mets were ready.
    Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 22 Apr. 2025
  • But his string of hits didn’t make a dent on the pop side during his lifetime.
    Kaitlyn Schwanemann, NBC News, 4 Oct. 2024
  • But this rift between the co-stars and co-producers could put a dent in plans.
    Christy Piña, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Dec. 2024
  • Added up, those units put a dent in the city’s housing stock, Lawson said.
    Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 13 May 2025
  • My first solution was get a thin piece of brass and make a dent in it with a center punch.
    IEEE Spectrum, 27 Aug. 2023
  • Friendly outings put a dent in your budget as the moon and Venus clash.
    USA TODAY, 10 Jan. 2025
  • Patubo said last year’s unprecedented storms in the area put a dent in business.
    Mae Anderson, Quartz, 19 Mar. 2024
  • Even so, reforms have failed to make a dent in the state's production problems.
    Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 15 Jan. 2025
  • None of which is to say drive-ins can even make a dent in what Hollywood has lost in revenue.
    Angela Watercutter, Wired, 30 June 2020
  • Does your company have the ad budget to make a dent in the digital space this year?
    Yec, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2023
  • Live streaming is not the answer and will not even make a dent in a venue's monthly expenses.
    Dave Brooks, Billboard, 19 Aug. 2020
  • The pastor doubted that approach on its own would make a dent in the country’s daily death toll.
    Danielle Paquette, Washington Post, 16 Feb. 2024
  • Such a program could make a dent in Sacramento’s rising death toll.
    Ariane Lange, Sacramento Bee, 17 Mar. 2025
  • Caveats Lowered inflation rates don’t make a dent in what consumers pay now.
    Jonathan Lansner, Orange County Register, 13 Feb. 2024
  • Second trimester calmed down a bit, but Zika put a dent in any glamorous babymoon plans.
    Nina F. Ichikawa, Vogue, 1 Sep. 2023
  • 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
  • But to really make a dent in Bangladesh's air pollution, many more kilns need to sign on.
    Jonathan Lambert, NPR, 18 May 2025
  • Maybe make a dent in our list of 50 classic books everyone should read in their lifetime.
    Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 24 June 2023
  • Those eight years in Israel didn’t seem to make a dent in his insatiable need for the spotlight.
    Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 May 2023
  • But even that amount, experts say, would only begin to make a dent in building a new Ukraine.
    David E. Sanger, New York Times, 12 June 2024
  • But for all her courthouse coups, Rice didn’t make a dent in the department’s mindset.
    Paul Solotaroff, Rolling Stone, 11 May 2025
  • With just five ingredients, these quick and easy pasta recipes won't put a dent in your free time or wallet.
    Mary Shannon Wells, Southern Living, 3 Oct. 2023
  • Yet they are not yet proven at anywhere near the scale needed to make a dent in atmospheric carbon.
    WIRED, 20 Mar. 2023
  • The rain put a dent in precipitation deficits and helped to thwart fires raging in the mountains.
    Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 22 Nov. 2023
  • Saffold set a mid-to-late-January deadline to make a dent in that funding goal.
    La Risa R. Lynch, Journal Sentinel, 24 Dec. 2024
  • The Blazers played better in the second quarter but not enough to make a dent into their deficit.
    oregonlive, 3 Feb. 2023
  • But objections over Gaza do not appear to have put a dent in the president's war chest thus far.
    USA TODAY, 6 Apr. 2024

Some of 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.

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