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.
"It is a lot harder to shoot down an entire satellite network. That's not something any military can do right now."
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026
The U.K. government says its bases are safe and it is currently in the process of changing the law so that military personnel guarding bases can track, jam and shoot down drones from afar.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr wants more help from Washington, including authorization to jam cell signals and shoot down drones.
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 Po-2s didn’t usually fly in daylight because their slow speed made them easy for enemy aircraft to chase and shoot down.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
