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.
Each Patriot interceptor costs approximately $4m - an expensive but effective option repeatedly used to shoot down Iranian drones that themselves only cost between $20,000-50,000 each.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
At NATO’s annual summit in Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday, Trump said he would let Ukraine manufacture Patriot defense systems, sophisticated U.S. mobile batteries that can shoot down enemy ballistic missiles.
From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2026
“We need the means to shoot down ballistic missiles. We have enough systems; what we need is a steady supply of missiles,” said Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
One of the largest costs for the U.S. during its conflict with Iran has been the missiles used to shoot down inexpensive drones.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
Raisa managed to shoot down the bomber herself.
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.
