1
as in ridicules
to make (someone or something) the object of unkind laughter
nowadays the aging activist is routinely shot down in most quarters of the media and dismissed as an irrelevant crank
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in kills
to reject by or as if by a vote
every one of my fund-raising ideas was shot down by the other club members
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in refutes
to prove to be false
the results of several studies shoot down the hypothesis that coffee causes heart attacks
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of shoots down
And in the comments of her introductory video, her team shoots down every plausible guess.
—
Lisa Respers France, CNN Money, 16 Oct. 2025
The powerful big tech lobby shoots down any law remotely alludes to testing and regulating AI machines.
—The Ai Insider, Interesting Engineering, 26 Aug. 2025
Lisa Respers France, CNN Money, 16 Oct. 2025
The powerful big tech lobby shoots down any law remotely alludes to testing and regulating AI machines.
—The Ai Insider, Interesting Engineering, 26 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shoots down
Verb
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Back in their teenage years, Lexi’s older sister Andrea is depicted as a mean girl who ridicules Catherine mercilessly.—
Sam Reed,
Glamour,
9 Jan. 2026
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Then there’s the loud kind, where the audience openly ridicules you.—
Adrienne LaFrance,
The Atlantic,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Bystander videos, like the ones taken of Pretti, have played a key role for decades in informing the public when law enforcement kills or injures people.—
Ava Berger,
NPR,
28 Jan. 2026
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The film follows a quiet inmate arriving at a violent Indonesian prison with a supernatural entity that kills those with the darkest auras.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The clear video evidence starkly refutes the party line.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
27 Jan. 2026
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That statement alone refutes claims that IHRA is meant to silence debate.—
David Moore,
New York Daily News,
11 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Chelsea Handler honors Rob Reiner, mocks DiCaprio's 'Titanic' vacationNeed a news break?—
Anna Kaufman,
USA Today,
5 Jan. 2026
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There, Callahan mocks him, saying that killing him won't assuage Mike of his guilt.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
28 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Yet this gloss dismisses something that might be better understood as a guiding principle, and suggests that criticism of Israel is an idealist’s liability rather than a stance with growing support among Democratic voters.—
Molly Fischer,
New Yorker,
21 Jan. 2026
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Leadership that dismisses or undermines inclusion inflicts real harm on students, faculty, and staff.—
Wanda James,
Denver Post,
13 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Many of Cure’s products are imported—German beer, French cheese and Spanish Marcona almonds, which Bodenheimer refuses to substitute.—
Irene Adeline Milanez,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
28 Jan. 2026
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But Ellison refuses to go away.—
Todd Spangler,
Variety,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
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If Duggan vetoes the ordinance, the council would have a week from the receipt of the veto to override it with a two-thirds majority vote — meaning at least six of the nine council members.—
Dana Afana,
Freep.com,
22 Oct. 2025
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Yet an administrator vetoes the plan, and the meeting’s start is uncaffeinated.—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
9 Sep. 2025
Verb
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But Sarah Graves gives a bit too much room and Penn downs a 3-pointeron the wing.—
Zoe Collins Rath,
Austin American Statesman,
30 Nov. 2025
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In between questions about Nineties cultural touchstones like Friends, Space Jam, Beavis and Butthead, the Spice Girls, and Sir-Mix-A-Lot — during which Kravitz racks up a lot of points and Butler downs a lot of shots — the pair also discusses working on Caught Stealing.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
20 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Shoots down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shoots%20down. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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