SHOT DOWN Synonyms: 137 Similar and Opposite Words

shot down

verb

past tense of shoot down

as in ridiculed

to make (someone or something) the object of unkind laughter nowadays the aging activist is routinely shot down in most quarters of the media and dismissed as an irrelevant crank

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in dismissed

to reject by or as if by a vote every one of my fund-raising ideas was shot down by the other club members

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in refuted

to prove to be false the results of several studies shoot down the hypothesis that coffee causes heart attacks

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of shot down At least 116 drones were shot down en route to Moscow, the capital's Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in posts to Telegram. — David Brennan, ABC News, 3 Sep. 2026 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 Prior to Ratcliffe’s trip, additional Russian drones entered NATO airspace, this time over Romania and Poland, and were shot down. — Naomi Lim, The Washington Examiner, 27 Aug. 2026 Russia launched two missiles and 150 drones at Ukraine overnight into Tuesday, with 124 drones shot down, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. — Billy Stockwell, CNN Money, 25 Aug. 2026 There will soon be a lot of these spread around and shot down by Take-Two as has happened with every GTA 6 leak so far. — Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026 The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 726 drones overnight over a number of Russian regions, annexed Crimea and the Black and Azov seas, in one of Ukraine’s biggest aerial attacks of the war. — Samya Kullab, Los Angeles Times, 20 Aug. 2026 Also unclear is the status of characters played by Gibson, Bridges, Kang, and Emmanuel, all of whom were in a plane that was shot down in the sequel, leaving their fates unknown. — Britt Hayes, Entertainment Weekly, 20 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for shot down

Verb

Paris’ Eiffel Tower, for instance, was ridiculed for decades before becoming arguably one of the most iconic and well-loved pieces of architecture in the world.

— Colette Davidson, Christian Science Monitor, 1 Sep. 2026
Digital advertising has long been the cash cow for other big tech companies like Google and Meta, but OpenAI's move was ridiculed by its chief rival, Anthropic, which made OpenAI's ad push the focus of its first Super Bowl campaign.

— Ashley Capoot, CNBC, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of ridiculed

Verb

Mel Gibson has issued an apology amid backlash over his recent appearance at FanExpo Canada, where the Oscar winner mocked an ASL interpreter while walking on stage to attend his retrospective Q&A.

— Zack Sharf, Variety, 31 Aug. 2026
Barney & Friends, the enormously popular and widely mocked PBS series about a singing, dancing purple dinosaur, is the obvious touchstone for the children’s-show-as-hellscape in the new movie Buddy.

— Alison Willmore, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of mocked

Verb

From Minnesota and Indiana to California and Florida, people across the nation who killed others while speeding are now facing charges that carry life sentences.

— Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2026
Two people were killed, along with the suspect, and five were injured in a Minnesota shooting.

— Josh Feldman, NBC news, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of killed

Verb

But the Mississippi Circuit Court’s decision in the 1924 case was soon overturned.

— H.M.A. Leow, JSTOR Daily, 4 Sep. 2026
The White House also overturned California’s electric vehicle sales target, which would have required automakers to sell an increasing percentage of zero-emission vehicles over the next decade.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of overturned

Verb

Sheriff’s officials said the gunshot victim did not cooperate with investigators and refused to provide information about the incident.

— Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 3 Sep. 2026
Federal authorities first agreed to a joint investigation, but Justice Department officials later refused to cooperate with state police, deeming any review of the fatal shooting unnecessary.

— Megan Rose, ProPublica, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of refused

Verb

Capifali also helped administer the city’s regulation of hemp products under Johnson, who vetoed an ordinance that would outright ban those sales.

— Alice Yin, Chicago Tribune, 31 Aug. 2026
Newsom last year vetoed legislation by Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo) that would have required data centers to disclose and certify their water consumption.

— Dakota Smith, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2026

Definition of vetoed

Browse Nearby Words

shot at

shot down

shotgun

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Shot down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shot%20down. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of shot down

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

matriculate

Popular in Grammar & Usage

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'?

Popular in Wordplay

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

Popular

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

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke

Games & Quizzes