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

Dozens of Russian drone incursions into Romanian airspace have occasionally caused damage and forced Romania to respond with costly fighter jet interceptions to shoot down some of the wayward drones. — Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 11 Aug. 2026

Recent attacks have also exposed how Russia’s air defense systems were not designed to combat drones, but rather to shoot down conventional military aircraft and missiles, analysts previously told CNN. — Lauren Kent, CNN Money, 9 Aug. 2026

Ukraine's air defenses shot down around 5,300 drones and missiles last month, Ukraine's defense ministry said Friday, just under 60% of the around 9,000 attack drones and missiles Russia fired in the same period. — Arkansas Online, 9 Aug. 2026

Meanwhile, Ukraine has already augmented its air defenses around Odesa and other ports, with videos showing aircraft, including an F-16 and a Yak-52, shooting down Geran-4s. — Vikram Mittal, Forbes.com, 9 Aug. 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