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.
Devers’ 403-foot shot down the right field line was his 30th homer of the season and third in seven career at-bats against Elder. — Chad Bishop, AJC.com, 1 Sep. 2026 Russia overnight shot down 239 Ukrainian drones over 14 Russian regions, occupied Crimea and the waters of the Black Sea, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said Monday. — ABC News, 31 Aug. 2026 WashingtonReuters — The US military used a laser in southern Texas’ Rio Grande Valley to shoot down three Mexican drug cartel drones this week near the US-Mexico border, US officials said on Thursday. — Reuters, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2026 The dearth of Patriot interceptors in Europe would leave few alternatives for shooting down Russia’s more advanced ballistic missiles, which can be combined with swarms of inexpensive drones to overwhelm defenses, experts say. — Emma Burrows, Los Angeles Times, 27 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

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 4 Sep. 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!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of apiary

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

A List of Most Commonly Confused Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 4
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke
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
anagrams on a chalk board
Word Builder Quiz Vol. 2 Pick the letter that when added to a word will ma...
See All