shoots down

verb

present tense third-person singular of shoot down
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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of shoots down In the movie, Russia shoots down a defunct satellite and creates a cloud of debris, leading to serious tension in orbit. — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 23 Sep. 2026 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 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shoots down
  1. ridicules
  2. kills
  3. refutes
  4. mocks
  5. dismisses
  6. refuses
  7. vetoes
  8. downs
Verb
  • Fiction and reality braid in clever ways as Highsmith ridicules her visitor and is inspired by him, imagining a sinister plot (which could in fact be real).
    — Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 19 Sep. 2026
  • Though Claudius ridicules Hamlet for his emotional vulnerability, his grief drives him to avenge his father and emerge as a hero.
    — Jeanette Tran, The Conversation, 12 Mar. 2026
Definition of ridicules
Verb
  • Russian barrage kills a 21-year-old woman The Russian nighttime barrage hit 28 substations and other crucial energy facilities, depriving more than half a million people of electricity, heat and running water, Zelensky said on social media.
    — Samya Kullab, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2026
  • How to make a watch party interactive Dead air during commercials kills the mood fast.
    — Lauren Schuster, Miami Herald, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of kills
Verb
  • The Mad King, however, refutes the legitimacy of any kind of prophecy, even going so far to reject the notion of destiny.
    — Rafael Motamayor, Vulture, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Speaking with the Courant, Moscowitz refutes that there was ever a formal meeting involving him or his investigators and Isa Abdus-Sabur.
    — Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of refutes
Verb
  • We are presented with a few potentially hissable villains, including an attorney for the state (Christian Rubeck) who mocks the Gheorghius’ faith and a frostily inflexible social worker, Gunda (Ellen Dorrit Petersen).
    — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is designed as an action flick as well as a portrait of a family dealing with tragedy and an insider’s look at an insular community that mocks harmful stereotypes without perpetrating them.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of mocks
Verb
  • If your team is afraid to name real weaknesses, or if leadership dismisses uncomfortable truths, the analysis won’t do what it’s meant to do.
    — Nancy Padberg, Forbes.com, 25 Sep. 2026
  • Risks, but not existential ones Not everyone dismisses the risk quite so bluntly, though.
    — Clare Duffy, CNN Money, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of dismisses
Verb
  • For Wilder residents, the La Catedral raid remains an open wound that refuses to heal.
    — Philip Wang, Time, 19 Oct. 2026
  • After that, Grace all but disappears from Crystal Lake, exposing the haphazard plotting of a show that refuses to commit.
    — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of refuses
Verb
  • If Newsom vetoes the bill, the legislature could decide to hold another vote to override the veto.
    — Sofia Williams, Sacbee.com, 2 Sep. 2026
  • At midnight the housing bill, hailed as the most substantial legislation on housing in decades, will become law, unless Trump reverses course and signs it sooner or vetoes it.
    — Jack Harvel July 10, Kansas City Star, 10 July 2026
Definition of vetoes
Verb
  • Aledo builds momentum, downs Arlington Aledo’s offense has found a groove.
    — Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 17 Oct. 2026
  • Both teams had ups and downs (mostly downs for the Browns) but Ohio State was always a much better, and much more fun atmosphere.
    — Zach Dean OutKick, FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of downs

Browse Nearby Words

shoots at
shoots down
shoots the breeze
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Cite this Entry

“Shoots down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shoots%20down. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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