strike down

verb

struck down; struck down also stricken down; striking down; strikes down

transitive verb

: annul, nullify

The board struck down the appointment.

especially : to declare (a law) illegal and unenforceable

The Supreme Court struck down the law.

Synonyms of strike down

• abolish
• repeal
• cancel
• set aside
• roll back
• avoid
• overturn

Examples of strike down in a Sentence

a law that was later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court as unconstitutional

Recent Examples on the Web

The ruling struck down a federal ban on sports betting in most states and opened the doors for online sportsbooks to take a prominent space in the sports ecosystem. —NPR, 9 Nov. 2025

The ruling struck down a federal law that barred sports betting in most states and opened the doors for online sportsbooks to take up a prominent space in the sports ecosystem. —Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 9 Nov. 2025

American Consumers ⬅➡ If the Court strikes down tariffs, importers will get the refunds, not the people who paid $16 for a bag of Halloween candy. —Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Nov. 2025

But, in recent years, several of the conservative Justices, in dissents, have seemed ready to start striking down some delegations as being too unspecific to be consistent with the separation of powers. —Jeannie Suk Gersen, New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1779, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for strike down

• chinatown
• tumbledown
• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown

Kids Definition

strike down

verb

: to make null and void : annul

struck down the proposal

especially : to declare (a law) illegal and unenforceable

the court struck down the law

Legal Definition

strike down

transitive verb

: annul, nullify

the trustee…can strike down transfers

—J. J. White and R. S. Summers

especially : to declare (a law) illegal and unenforceable

the court struck down death penalty provisions

—L. H. Tribe