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

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 151 drones and three missiles into the country on Wednesday night into Thursday morning, of which 83 drones and two missiles were shot down. —David Brennan, ABC News, 11 Dec. 2025

Kyiv says Russia launched at least 80 drones overnight, 50 of which were shot down or suppressed, while 29 struck seven locations in Ukraine. —Hannah Parry, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2025

After Russia’s Friday night barrage, Ukraine’s air force said 29 locations were hit, and the military was able to shoot down 585 drones and 30 missiles. —Brie Stimson, FOXNews.com, 7 Dec. 2025

Trump suggested the drones should be shot down. —Jeanine Santucci, USA Today, 7 Dec. 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