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

Interim athletic director Verge Ausberry has shot down any talk of Nick Saban reuniting with the program, but Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin has been rumored as a candidate. —Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 7 Nov. 2025

In an appearance on Fox News on Thursday morning, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy shot down concerns that the crash was related to the government shutdown. —Matt Lavietes, NBC news, 6 Nov. 2025

However, Mitch Bannon of The Athletic shot down that explanation in his reporting on Bieber's return to Toronto on Tuesday night. —Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2025

Voters, in a very close decision − only a 58 vote difference − shot down the proposal, according to unofficial results. —Christina Hall, Freep.com, 5 Nov. 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