SHOOTS DOWN Synonyms: 136 Similar and Opposite Words

shoots down

verb

present tense third-person singular of shoot down

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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in refutes

to prove to be false the results of several studies shoot down the hypothesis that coffee causes heart attacks

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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

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

When an unplanned blast kills a boy from the village, the elders take advance compensation to keep the peace.

— Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026
Listeria infects about 1,250 people in the United States annually, according to the CDC, and kills about 172 of those people.

— David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 10 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

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

Weatherford downs Arlington Lamar Weatherford picked up a crucial 35-28 win over Arlington Lamar on Friday, moving into the District 3-6A playoff hunt.

— Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 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

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shoots at

shoots down

shoots the breeze

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“Shoots down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shoots%20down. Accessed 13 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of shoots down

verb

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