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

Russia also launched 210 drones, the air force said, of which 181 were shot down or otherwise suppressed. — ABC News, 22 Oct. 2026

Zelenskyy said Saturday the speed limits had prevented Ukraine from using Starshield to shoot down Russian Shahed attack drones. — Aidan Stretch, CBS News, 22 Oct. 2026

In a statement sent to Fox News Digital, the Wichita Police Department shot down questions circulating on social media about whether there was a law enforcement connection. — Kelsie Cairns, FOXNews.com, 21 Oct. 2026

The case centers on the Cuban government shooting down two Brothers to the Rescue flights, a civilian rescue group dedicated to saving refugees fleeing the authoritarian Castro regime — then run by Raul Castro’s older brother Fidel. — Liv Caputo Herald, Miami Herald, 19 Oct. 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