Dent
name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·1 syllable ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A shallow deformation in the surface of an object, produced by an impact.
"The crash produced a dent in the left side of the car."
- 2 A tooth, as of a card, a gear wheel, etc.
- 3 an impression in a surface (as made by a blow) wordnet
- 4 A minor effect made upon something. figuratively
"to make a dent"
- 5 A slot or a wire in a reed
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 an appreciable consequence (especially a lessening) wordnet
- 7 A type of maize/corn with a relatively soft outer hull, and a soft type of starch that shrinks at maturity to leave an indentation in the surface of the kernel.
- 8 a depression scratched or carved into a surface wordnet
- 9 A sudden negative change, such as loss, damage, weakening, consumption or diminution, especially one produced by an external force, event or action broadly, informal
"That purchase put a bit of a dent in my wallet."
Verb
- 1 To impact something, producing a dent. transitive
- 2 make a depression into wordnet
- 3 To develop a dent or dents. intransitive
"Copper is soft and dents easily."
Proper Noun
- 1 A village and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England, previously in South Lakeland district (OS grid ref SD7086). countable, uncountable
- 2 A surname. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"Stopgap measures won't make a dent in drug addiction."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English dent, dente, dint (“a blow; strike; dent”), from Old English dynt (“blow, strike, the mark or noise of a blow”), from Proto-Germanic *duntiz (“a blow”). Akin to Old Norse dyntr (“dint”). Doublet of dint.
Etymology 2
From French dent, from Latin dēns, dentis (“tooth”). Doublet of dens and tooth.
Related phrases
More for "dent"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.