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
4
: discredit sense 2
shoot down a theory

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
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.
Jansen Funding vote fails for the 10th time The Senate once again shot down a measure to reopen the government Thursday. Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA Today, 16 Oct. 2025 And in the comments of her introductory video, her team shoots down every plausible guess. Lisa Respers France, CNN Money, 16 Oct. 2025 Unfortunately for him, Judge Arun Subramanian shot down the request as the Bureau of Prisons will accommodate general locations for sentences, but not specific prisons. Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 15 Oct. 2025 However, when Horowitz suggested the idea of Fishburne potentially joining the Star Wars universe, the actor shot down the idea faster than Han Solo shot Greedo. Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly, 14 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for shoot down

Word History

First Known Use

1657, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of shoot down was in 1657

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Shoot down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shoot%20down. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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