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

Overall, Ukraine’s air defenses shot down or suppressed 196 Russian drones overnight into Friday. — Derek Gatopoulos, Los Angeles Times, 6 Nov. 2026

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its forces shot down 496 Ukrainian drones over 13 Russian regions overnight, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia, and the Black and Azov Seas. — ABC News, 5 Nov. 2026

The Air Force's older MQ-1 Predators have largely been retired, but if Iran has in fact shot down 10 of the aircraft, the loss would still equate to roughly $40 million. — CBS News, 4 Nov. 2026

Forcing the president to shoot down numerous popular bills could give them fodder in the 2028 election. — Kevin Breuninger, CNBC, 4 Nov. 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