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

• deride
• gibe
• jibe
• jeer
• laugh (at)
• mock
• ridicule
• scout
• skewer

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

Russia's Ministry of Defense, meanwhile, said its air defense systems shot down two Ukrainian drones overnight into Saturday. —Arkansas Online, 20 Apr. 2025

Russia’s Ministry of Defense, meanwhile, said its air defense systems shot down two Ukrainian drones overnight into Saturday. —Jessica Schladebeck, New York Daily News, 19 Apr. 2025

Several girls in class, led by Beth (with a large binder in tow), band together to form a feminism club, a proposal which is initially shot down by the administration until Mr. Smith agrees to sponsor and Mason is dragged in. —Christian Lewis, Variety, 15 Apr. 2025

Trump's would-be assassin sought weapon to shoot down his plane, DOJ says Jacob Rosen Jake Rosen is a reporter covering the Department of Justice. —Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 9 Apr. 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