"make a dent" meaning in All languages combined

See make a dent on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Forms: makes a dent [present, singular, third-person], making a dent [participle, present], made a dent [participle, past], made a dent [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|make<,,made> a dent}} 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. (figurative) To make an impression; to have an effect on; to chip away at. Tags: figuratively Translations (Translations): hacer mella (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-make_a_dent-en-verb-AhvP7S2r Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 90 10 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 91 9 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 93 7 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 94 6 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 88 12 Disambiguation of 'Translations': 95 5
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see make, a, dent. Synonyms: leave a dent, put a dent
    Sense id: en-make_a_dent-en-verb-7WQKYlDJ

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "makes a dent",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "making a dent",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made a dent",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made a dent",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "make<,,made> a dent"
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      "name": "en-verb"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "90 10",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "91 9",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "93 7",
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "94 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "88 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1938 December 18, Bosley Crowther, quoting John Garfield, “A man who means to make a dent”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "If an actor doesn't have a point of view, he doesn't make a dent. And I mean to make a dent.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1992 December 6, David M. Gordon, “Clinton May Fall Short on Easing Unemployment”, in Los Angeles Times, page D2:",
          "text": "But I am not yet persuaded that Clintonomics will make much of a dent in the persistent problems of unemployment in the U.S. economy.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999 February 4, Michael M. Weinstein, “Clinton's budget plan on social needs will barely make a dent”, in The New York Times:",
          "text": "Clinton's budget plan on social needs will barely make a dent [title]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001 December 26, Craig S. Smith, “China's Efforts Against Crime Make No Dent”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "China's Efforts Against Crime Make No Dent [title]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Walter Isaacson, quoting Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 94:",
          "text": "Think about surfing on the front edge of a wave. It's really exhilarating. Now think about dog-paddling at the tail end of that wave. It wouldn't be anywhere near as much fun. Come down here and make a dent in the universe.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make an impression; to have an effect on; to chip away at."
      ],
      "id": "en-make_a_dent-en-verb-AhvP7S2r",
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          "make an impression",
          "make an impression"
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        [
          "effect",
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        [
          "chip away",
          "chip away"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) To make an impression; to have an effect on; to chip away at."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "hacer mella"
        }
      ]
    },
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        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see make, a, dent."
      ],
      "id": "en-make_a_dent-en-verb-7WQKYlDJ",
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          "make",
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          "a",
          "a#English"
        ],
        [
          "dent",
          "dent#English"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "35 65",
          "word": "leave a dent"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "35 65",
          "word": "put a dent"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "make a dent"
}
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    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Translation table header lacks gloss"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "makes a dent",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "making a dent",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made a dent",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made a dent",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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      "name": "en-verb"
    }
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1938 December 18, Bosley Crowther, quoting John Garfield, “A man who means to make a dent”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "If an actor doesn't have a point of view, he doesn't make a dent. And I mean to make a dent.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1992 December 6, David M. Gordon, “Clinton May Fall Short on Easing Unemployment”, in Los Angeles Times, page D2:",
          "text": "But I am not yet persuaded that Clintonomics will make much of a dent in the persistent problems of unemployment in the U.S. economy.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999 February 4, Michael M. Weinstein, “Clinton's budget plan on social needs will barely make a dent”, in The New York Times:",
          "text": "Clinton's budget plan on social needs will barely make a dent [title]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001 December 26, Craig S. Smith, “China's Efforts Against Crime Make No Dent”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "China's Efforts Against Crime Make No Dent [title]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Walter Isaacson, quoting Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 94:",
          "text": "Think about surfing on the front edge of a wave. It's really exhilarating. Now think about dog-paddling at the tail end of that wave. It wouldn't be anywhere near as much fun. Come down here and make a dent in the universe.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make an impression; to have an effect on; to chip away at."
      ],
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          "make an impression",
          "make an impression"
        ],
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          "effect",
          "effect"
        ],
        [
          "chip away",
          "chip away"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) To make an impression; to have an effect on; to chip away at."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see make, a, dent."
      ],
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          "a",
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        ]
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  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "leave a dent"
    },
    {
      "word": "put a dent"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "hacer mella"
    }
  ],
  "word": "make a dent"
}

Download raw JSONL data for make a dent meaning in All languages combined (2.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.