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

Manfred also shot down any speculation about Rose’s reinstatement in 2023, as the league had partnerships with sportsbooks. —Ryan Gaydos, Fox News, 2 Mar. 2025

Richard Rogers, a 45-year-old man from Billings, Mont., was sentenced to four years of probation for threatening to assault former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy after growing personal anger over the government not shooting down a Chinese spy balloon that floated over Rogers' hometown. —Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 28 Feb. 2025

Wells shot down that rumor, indicating that there is no evidence to support it and that most measles outbreaks in the US begin with an unvaccinated citizen traveling abroad and bringing the virus home with them. —Ars Technica, 28 Feb. 2025

For example, the new government has banned flights from Iran into Lebanon after Israel threatened to shoot down any planes suspected of being used to smuggle contraband into the country. —Ross Rosenfeld, Newsweek, 26 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1657, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for shoot down

• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown
• godown
• hometown