shoot down
Britishverb
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to shoot callously
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to cause to fall to earth by hitting with a missile
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to defeat or disprove
he shot down her argument
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Ruin the aspirations of, disappoint, as in Bill was hoping Sharon would go out with him, but she shot him down .
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Reject, defeat; also, expose as false. For example, It was the best idea I could come up with, but they unanimously shot it down , or It was inevitable that they would shoot down any claim made by the opposing candidate . This colloquial expression, which alludes to bringing down an aircraft or game bird by shooting, is sometimes intensified as shoot down in flames , originally (in World War I) referring to bringing down enemy aircraft but the late 1950s extended to decisively defeating anyone or anything.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Another new rule in the works would let them apply to ban drone flights near their property, an FAA official said, although only Congress can grant authority to shoot down aircraft, manned or not.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Four Ukrainian companies have reportedly started testing missiles that can shoot down the new Geran models, officials in Kyiv recently told reporters.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
"The task now is to make them faster and equip them with specialised guidance systems so that they can shoot down jet-powered UAVs, the jet-powered Shaheds," he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
He added the the Indian delegation "was safe because it is Ukrainian fighter jets that shoot down most of these drones".
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
Three days after her arrival at Stalingrad, Lilya Litvyak had become the first woman in the world to shoot down enemy combat aircraft on her own—not one, but two in the same flight.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
