shoot down

verb

shot down; shooting down; shoots down
Synonyms of shoot downnext

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 of shoot down

Relevance
See All Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus

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
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.
Such drones can’t be jammed and have to be shot down one by one. — Bloomberg News, Boston Herald, 27 June 2026 As for ever returning to Los Angeles for production for his shows, Sheridan shot down the idea. — Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 29 June 2026 The Colorado Supreme Court shot down five ballot measures in all -- three by Democrats and two by Republicans. — Shaun Boyd, CBS News, 30 June 2026 This shows a major improvement in Russia’s ability to intercept, shooting down over 90% of much larger groups. — Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 28 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for shoot down

Word History

First Known Use

1657, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of shoot down was in 1657

Rhymes for shoot down

See All Rhymes for shoot down

Browse Nearby Words

shoot dead
shoot down
shootee
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Shoot down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shoot%20down. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All