Definition of "dent" []

• A depression in a surface made by pressure or a blow: a dent in the side of a car. (noun)
• Informal A significant, usually diminishing effect or impression: The loss put a dent in the team's confidence. (noun)
• Informal Meaningful progress; headway: at least made a dent in the work. (noun)
• To make a dent in. (verb-transitive)
• To become dented: a fender that dents easily. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Congressional Democrats tonight are blasting the president's budget as well, saying the president's new budget is filled with what they call dent and deception."
• "Clearly the print space that you are alluding to was probably the singular largest area where there were some shortfalls in the supply chain, but they were not large enough, Matt, to make a - what I call a dent in our overall growth Q3 to Q4."
• "Whether GOTV efforts from either side, however, will make much of a dent is hard to predict."