shoot down

verb

shot down; shooting down; shoots down

transitive verb

1

: to cause to fall by shooting

shot down the helicopter

especially : to kill in this way

was shot down in cold blood

2

: to put an end to : defeat, reject

shoot down legislation

3

: deflate, ridicule

4

: discredit sense 2

shoot down a theory

Synonyms

• ridicule
• mock
• laugh (at)
• rag on

Examples of shoot down in a Sentence

nowadays the aging activist is routinely shot down in most quarters of the media and dismissed as an irrelevant crank

every one of my fund-raising ideas was shot down by the other club members

Recent Examples on the Web

Moreover, doubts over untested Chinese weaponry have evaporated following their successful deployment in Pakistan's confrontation with India in early May, when Chinese J-10C and JF-17 fighter jets shot down up to six Indian jets. —Charlie Campbell, Time, 23 Oct. 2025

The Duffer Brothers previously said Netflix shot down the idea, but things have changed. —Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 23 Oct. 2025

Tuesday night brought the latest barrage, more than 400 drones and 20-plus missiles, around 350 of which were shot down, Ukraine's air force command said. —Alexander Smith, NBC news, 22 Oct. 2025

Pakistan, China’s closest military partner and currently the only foreign operator of the J-10C, claims its aircraft shot down Indian jets during a five-day conflict in May. —Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1657, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for shoot down

• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown
• godown
• hometown