dent

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an appreciable consequence (especially a lessening)

   It made a dent in my bank account.

2. 2
   verb

   make a depression into

   The bicycle dented my car.

Simplified etymology

Dent, recorded from Middle English, originally meant “a hollow made by a blow or pressure.” It is a variant of dint and later supplied one of the two unrelated verbs spelled indent, meaning “to make a dent or impression in.”

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.

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary