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

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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.
At least 28 drones were shot down over the Moscow region, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said on Telegram. — David Brennan, ABC News, 20 Aug. 2026 Payton shot down a report of a position change early in camp, but there was Barron in the first half Friday night looking like a safety on one particular snap as the Broncos blitzed in zero coverage. — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 19 Aug. 2026 More than 600 Ukrainian drones flew toward the Moscow region, where 180 were shot down, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. — Hanna Arhirova, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2026 However, Ukrainian soldiers also described the Russian Arena-M system successfully shooting down some incoming drones, according to the journalists Dmytro Putiata and Rob Lee. — Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 18 Aug. 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

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Browse Nearby Words

shoot dead
shoot down
shootee
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Cite this Entry

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

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