shut down; shutting down; shuts down
: to settle so as to obscure vision : close in
the night shut down early
: to make ineffective in competition
shut down the opposition's offensive line
Examples of shutdown in a Sentence
Noun
the shutdown of the factory
the factory resumed operation after a brief shutdown for repairs
Recent Examples on the Web
Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 17 Nov. 2025
Many air traffic controllers had been working mandatory overtime and overtime weeks before the shutdown.
—Peter Aitken, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Nov. 2025
Amelia Mugavero, CBS News, 17 Nov. 2025
Originally founded in 1890 in Portsmouth, the store moved to Norfolk in 1898 and evolved into the grand department store it became known as before shutting down after suffering from sale declines in the late 1900s.
—Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 16 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shutdown
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
Grijalva became the 218th member to sign the petition, meeting the threshold to force a vote, immediately after taking the oath of office last week when Johnson called the House back to session to pass the funding bill to end the government shutdown.
—Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 17 Nov. 2025
Many air traffic controllers had been working mandatory overtime and overtime weeks before the shutdown.
—Peter Aitken, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Nov. 2025
Verb
The series spent the summer filming across Fort Worth and Dallas, shutting down streets, transforming neighborhoods into backlots and stirring up a wave of social media posts from fans catching the action.
—Amelia Mugavero, CBS News, 17 Nov. 2025
Originally founded in 1890 in Portsmouth, the store moved to Norfolk in 1898 and evolved into the grand department store it became known as before shutting down after suffering from sale declines in the late 1900s.
—Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 16 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shutdown
Cite this Entry
“Shutdown.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shutdown. Accessed 19 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
shutdown
noun
shut·down
ˈshət-ˌdau̇n 
: an ending of an activity
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share