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

Speculation soon followed that this effort was in response to the aforementioned test audience confusion, but Cronin shoots down that notion about the last-minute social media campaign. —Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 20 Apr. 2026

The military site was built during the Cold War, before the wildlife refuge existed, to house missiles designed to shoot down high-altitude bombers on their way from Cuba. —Bill Kearney, Sun Sentinel, 19 Apr. 2026

Cooper also managed to shoot down four German aircraft, just one shy of Ace designation. —Laura Ness, Mercury News, 19 Apr. 2026

United may have taken the bigger hit after American shot down the notion of merger with its rival, which was reportedly floated by United's CEO last week at the White House. —ABC News, 19 Apr. 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