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.
“They were not designed to shoot down $5,000 drones in quantities of thousands or tens of thousands,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026
These Aegis Ashore systems fire the same interceptor missiles currently being used by the US Navy to shoot down Iranian ballistic missiles.
From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026
Gulf states appear to lack the means to affordably shoot down a lot of low-flying drones.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026
It has also sent RAF jets to the region to shoot down missiles and drones fired by Iran at UK allies.
From BBC • Mar. 8, 2026
When they’d taken off, Tamara and Raya had flown to Kastornaya looking for a single German spy plane to shoot down.
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.
