Word.ws English Dictionary

making a dent

making a dent is the present participle and gerund of make a dent.

Meaning of make a dent

Verb

make a dent (third-person singular simple present makes a dent, present participle making a dent, simple past and past participle made a dent)

  1. (figuratively) To make an impression; to have an effect on; to chip away at.
    • If an actor doesn't have a point of view, he doesn't make a dent. And I mean to make a dent.1938 December 18, Bosley Crowther, quoting John Garfield, “A man who means to make a dent”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see make, a, dent.

Questions about making a dent

What is making a dent the present participle and gerund of?
Making a dent is the present participle and gerund of make a dent.

Words near making a dent in the dictionary

  1. making a cat laugh
  2. making a clean break
  3. making a clean breast
  4. making a dash for it
  5. making a decision
  6. making a dent
  7. making a difference
  8. making a dollar out of fifteen cents
  9. making a face
  10. making a fist of
  11. making a fool of

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: making a dent (page history and authors); make a dent (page history and authors). 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.

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