shot down

verb

past tense of shoot down
1
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
2
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
3
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 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 The Israeli military said Hezbollah had fired two explosive drones at Israeli troops near the southern city of Nabatiyeh earlier Thursday, though the drones did not inflict any casualties among troops before one was shot down. — ABC News, 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 Payton shot down a report of a position change early in camp, but there was Barron in the first half Friday night looking like a safety on one particular snap as the Broncos blitzed in zero coverage. — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 19 Aug. 2026 The chopper gets shot down, and Wolverine must fight his way back to reunite with Sabretooth and Mystique, his Team X comrades. — Jordan Moreau, Variety, 13 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shot down
  1. ridiculed
  2. dismissed
  3. refuted
  4. mocked
  5. killed
  6. overturned
  7. refused
  8. vetoed
Verb
  • Young Dolly wore the coat proudly to school, only to be ridiculed by mean kids who laughed at the sight of it.
    — David Kamp, HollywoodReporter, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Beloved by younger fans who remember the sneaker’s original 2013 release, the style is sometimes ridiculed by purists, but that doesn’t make its inclusion any less valid.
    — Riley Jones, Footwear News, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of ridiculed
Verb
  • Gibson Dunn, an external law firm, investigated and dismissed Love’s complaints.
    — Jake Kanter, Deadline, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Advertisement Unfortunately, some of my academic and clinical colleagues have dismissed this approach.
    — David H. Rosmarin, Time, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of dismissed
Verb
  • The State Department has refuted the allegations against Chen.
    — Shannon K. Kingston, ABC News, 20 Aug. 2026
  • The State Department has refuted arguments that funding cuts contributed to a slower response to the virus.
    — Adrian Elimian, semafor.com, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of refuted
Verb
  • 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
  • Trump has all but severed America’s system of alliances, mocked and bullied Ukraine’s president, and showered praise upon Kim Jong Un.
    — Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of mocked
Verb
  • Rob and Michelle Reiner were killed on December 14, 2025, and Nick is charged with two counts of murder.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Son of a partisan fighter The son of a World War Two partisan fighter killed in 1945, Mladic was an officer in the old communist Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) when Yugoslavia's disintegration began in 1991.
    — Ivana Sekularac, USA Today, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of killed
Verb
  • According to The Sacramento Bee, California Highway Patrol said the crew member was driving a semi-truck that veered off the interstate highway and overturned.
    — Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 28 Aug. 2026
  • At least one person died Thursday morning after a big rig overturned on Interstate 5 south of Zamora in Yolo County, according to the California Highway Patrol.
    — Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of overturned
Verb
  • Kansas City, Kansas, schools also refused to sign a resolution agreement.
    — Kendrick Calfee, Kansas City Star, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Having refused to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in 2019, a group dominated by China, New Delhi has signed free trade agreements with New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.
    — C. Raja Mohan, Foreign Affairs, 27 Aug. 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

“Shot down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shot%20down. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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