"make a dent" meaning in English

{
  "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"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "make<,,made> a dent"
      },
      "expansion": "make a dent (third-person singular simple present makes a dent, present participle making a dent, simple past and past participle made a dent)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "89 11",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Walter Isaacson, quoting Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs, New York: Simon & Schuster, 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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make an impression; to have an effect on; to chip away at."
      ],
      "id": "en-make_a_dent-en-verb-AhvP7S2r",
      "links": [
        [
          "make an impression",
          "make an impression"
        ],
        [
          "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."
      ],
      "id": "en-make_a_dent-en-verb-7WQKYlDJ",
      "links": [
        [
          "make",
          "make#English"
        ],
        [
          "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"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "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"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "make<,,made> a dent"
      },
      "expansion": "make a dent (third-person singular simple present makes a dent, present participle making a dent, simple past and past participle made a dent)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Walter Isaacson, quoting Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs, New York: Simon & Schuster, 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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make an impression; to have an effect on; to chip away at."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "make an impression",
          "make an impression"
        ],
        [
          "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."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "make",
          "make#English"
        ],
        [
          "a",
          "a#English"
        ],
        [
          "dent",
          "dent#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "leave a dent"
    },
    {
      "word": "put a dent"
    }
  ],
  "word": "make a dent"
}