Dint
contraction, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Especially in by dint of: force, power. countable, uncountable
"O, now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel / The dint of pity"
- 2 interchangeable with ‘means’ in the expression ‘by means of’ wordnet
- 3 The mark left by a blow; an indentation or impression made by violence; a dent. countable, uncountable
"[D]epe wͭ dynt the ſword enforced furſt / had ranſakt through his ribs ⁊ ſwete whyte breſt at once had burſt."
- 4 A blow, stroke, especially dealt in a fight. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"Much daunted with that dint, her sence was dazd […]"
- 1 To dent.
"Your helmet was dinted in as if by a great shot."
- 1 Pronunciation spelling of didn’t. alt-of, contraction, pronunciation-spelling
Example
More examples"By dint of long practice he became most skillful."
Etymology
From Middle English dint, dent, dünt, from Old English dynt (“dint, blow, strike, stroke, bruise, stripe; the mark left by a blow; the sound or noise made by a blow, thud”), from Proto-Germanic *duntiz (“a blow”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰen- (“to strike, hit”). Cognate with Swedish dialectal dunt, Icelandic dyntr (“a dint”). Doublet of dent.
From Middle English dinten, from the noun. Compare Old Norse dynta.
Related phrases
More for "dint"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.