Word.ws English Dictionary

by dint of

UK/baɪ ˈdɪnt ɒv//baɪ ˈdɪnt ʌv/

by dint of preposition: by force of; by means of.

Preposition

by dint of

  1. By force of; by means of.
    • He succeeded by dint of effort, not talent.
    • [T]he Scythians perceiuyng they coulde not ouercome them by dint of ſwoorde and warre, changed their fight, & went againſt them with whippes and ſcourges, at the ſight whereof the ſeruant[s] remembring their olde condicion, were ſore abaſhed and ſubmitted them ſelues, takying worthy punyſhment for...1560, Thomas Cooper, “The Seconde Parte [of Lanquettes Chronicle]”, in Coopers Chronicle, Conteininge the Whole Discourse of the Histories as well of This Realme, as All Other Countreis, […], new...
  2. (broadly) Because of; by reason of.
    • Hierocles [of Alexandria] in this Place follows the Thought of Socrates, who in the Phædon of Plato deplores the hard Fate of Men, who by dint of Hearing the Ignorant diſpute and contradict every thing, imagine with themſelves that there is no ſuch thing as clear, ſolid and ſenſible Reaſons; and...1707, [André] Dacier, “Verses XXI, XXII, and XXIII”, in [anonymous], transl., The Life of Pythagoras, with His Symbols and Golden Verses. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, footnote (a), page...
    • As a development organization, it [the United Nations Development Programme] competes with other parts of the UN system for funds and attention, but more especially with the World Bank, which has become a substantial presence in developing countries, in terms of resources and influence. UNDP has...2012, Stephen Browne, “The Future of the UN Development System”, in United Nations Development Programme and System, Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 108

by dint of meaning in Tamil, Malayalam and Arabic

by dint of in Tamil

காரணமாக, மூலமாக

by dint of in Malayalam

by means of, by virtue of, on account of
ഇന്നതിന്റെ ശക്തിയാൽ, ഇന്നതുപയോഗിച്ച്, മാർഗ്ഗേണ, മുഖാന്തരം, മുഖേന, വഴിയായി

by dint of in Arabic

by the force of; by means of — see also by means of, as a result of
بِسَبَبّ bisababb

Examples of by dint of in a sentence

  • [H]is aunceſtours did deſire / By dint of blade, not bagges of droſſe, to honour to aſpire.1576, George Whetstone, “The Arbour of Vertue, […]”, in The Rocke of Regard, […], London: […] [H. Middleton] for Robert Waley, →OCLC...
  • Ethelred manfully entred the battaile, and ſo ſeconded his brother, & ouer-tyred Soldiers, that hee made way by dint of his ſword through the thickeſt of their almoſt-conquering enemies; […]1623, John Speed, “Ethelred the Tvvo and Tvventieeth King of the VVest-Saxons, and the Twenty Third Monarch of the Englishmen, His Acts...
  • She stopt, felt herself getting into a puzzle, and could not be prevailed on to add another word, not by dint of several minutes of supplication and waiting.1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter III, in Mansfield Park: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC...
  • There can be a tendency to think of mathematical research as being carried out by a solitary thinker, conquering intellectual hurdles by dint of sheer thought.2021, Timothy Y. Chow, Re: Clarification of Skepticism, in: FOM [Foundations of Mathematics] mailing list, Mar 4 2021

Origin of by dint of

From by + dint (“force, power”) + of.

Questions about by dint of

What does by dint of mean?
By dint of means by force of; by means of.
What is by dint of in Tamil?
By dint of in Tamil is காரணமாக, மூலமாக. See By dint of meaning in Tamil.
How do you use by dint of in a sentence?
[H]is aunceſtours did deſire / By dint of blade, not bagges of droſſe, to honour to aſpire.
What part of speech is by dint of?
By dint of is a preposition.
How do you pronounce by dint of?
By dint of is pronounced /baɪ ˈdɪnt ɒv/ (UK).

Words near by dint of in the dictionary

  1. by day
  2. by default
  3. by definition
  4. by degrees
  5. by design
  6. by dint of
  7. by ear
  8. by extension
  9. by eye
  10. by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail
  11. by fair means or foul

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: by dint of (page history and authors); by dint of (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); by dint of (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-by dint of.mp3.

Cite this entry: “by dint of.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/by_dint_of. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.