Dent

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /dɛnt/

Definitions

1. A mark or depression created on a surface due to external force signifies a structural alteration in the object
2. A deficiency in a surface caused by pressure or force denotes a change that affects the object's overall integrity
3. A shallow impression on a surface formed through applied pressure indicates a modification that potentially impacts the object's durability

Etymology: The English word "dent" has two separate ancestors that happen to have merged into one spelling. The first is the older one: Old English "dynt" meant "blow, strike," and it referred both to the force of a hit and to the mark or noise it left behind. That sense of a mark made by a blow survives in the modern meaning, so a dent is, at root, the trace of a knock. Its close relative "dint," meaning a blow or the force behind one, is a doublet of the same word and kept the older sense more clearly, as in the phrase "by dint of." The second ancestor is entirely different. French "dent" comes from Latin "dens, dentis," meaning "tooth," and it is the source of the same tooth-related imagery found in English "dental" and "dentist." This is why the word can look like it belongs to the world of teeth, though its English use as a shallow impression owes nothing to that Latin root. The two senses are not connected by any shared history; they simply share a spelling.

Synonyms: indentation, mark

Antonyms: smoothness, flatness