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 of shoot down

• 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

Jordan’s armed forces say air defense systems intercepted and shot down three Iranian missiles targeting the kingdom on Tuesday. — Jomana Karadsheh, CNN Money, 21 July 2026

Jordan’s military said Iran targeted it with five drones and three missiles, all of which were shot down. — Jon Gambrell, Los Angeles Times, 21 July 2026

On April 3, an American fighter jet was shot down in Iran, causing the pilot and the weapons systems officer to eject from the aircraft. — Chantelle Lee, Time, 20 July 2026

In an interesting episode during the 1974-75 war, the Peshmerga managed to shoot down an Iraqi MiG-19 fighter jet and capture its pilot, who was treated exceptionally humanely. — Paul Iddon, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026

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