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

• deride
• gibe
• jibe
• jeer
• laugh (at)
• mock
• ridicule
• scout
• skewer

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

McConnell has also shot down conservatives' push to impose term limits on the next leader. —Stef W. Kight, Axios, 12 Sep. 2024

Videos show Ukrainian helicopters shooting down Shaheds, and this now appears to be a standard tactic. —David Hambling, Forbes, 12 Sep. 2024

When a social media user alleged that Nicki’s clarification was at the behest of her record label, Republic Records, a notion the hitmaker quicky shot down. —Preezy Brown, VIBE.com, 10 Sep. 2024

At least one drone appeared to have been shot down over the Ukrainian parliament as pictures shared online by the parliament showed debris scattered outside the building’s entrance. —Niamh Kennedy and Maria Kostenko, CNN, 7 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1657, in the meaning defined at sense 1