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Glite Dictionary
to fix the dent

to fix the dent

1 2.8
Repair a small inward bend in metal, for example a car door
  • phrasal verb
: reparar el abolladura
  • He never fixed the dent in their car.

Examples

  • I need to fix the dent on my car after it got hit by a shopping cart.

  • After the hailstorm, they called a mechanic to fix the dent on their vehicle.

  • Can you show me how to fix the dent in this metal door?

Synonyms

to fix
vsto fix the dent
∞ 1.0

To repair something so it works again

is limited to repairing small inward bends in metal surfaces
to patch
vsto fix the dent
151 2.5

To repair a hole or damaged area by adding a piece of material

reshapes metal inward damage instead of covering holes
to patch up
vsto fix the dent
20 3.4

Mend a hole or tear by putting a piece of material over it

is about reshaping small inward metal damage not attaching material
to fix the crack
vsto fix the dent
1 1.4

To repair a break or hole in a surface so it is smooth and whole again

focuses on bending damage rather than breaks or holes

Antonyms

to dent
27 2.2

To make a hollow in a surface by hitting or pressing it

How Repaired

to fix the dent
1 2.8
to push out
16 3.2

Surface Forms

fix the dent infinitive
fixed the dent past
fixed the dent past participle
fixing the dent present participle
fixes the dent third person singular

Morphology

fix + the + dent

The meaning 'to repair a small indentation' is directly and transparently derivable from the verb 'fix' (to repair) combined with the noun 'dent' (a shallow indentation); 'the' is only a definite article and adds no semantic opacity. This is a regular verb + object construction common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Fix the dent comes from car repair: to fix a dent, workers push or hammer a small inward bend in the metal back into shape. So, it means 'to repair a small area of damage' on a vehicle or other metal object.