shoot down
verb
shot down; shooting down; shoots down
transitive verb
1
: to cause to fall by shooting
shot down the helicopter
especially : to kill in this way
was shot down in cold blood
2
: to put an end to : defeat, reject
shoot down legislation
3
: deflate, ridicule
4
: discredit sense 2
shoot down a theory
Synonyms
- deride
- gibe
- jibe
- jeer
- laugh (at)
- mock
- ridicule
- scout
- skewer
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
nowadays the aging activist is routinely shot down in most quarters of the media and dismissed as an irrelevant crank every one of my fund-raising ideas was shot down by the other club members
Word History
First Known Use
1657, in the meaning defined at sense 1
shot down
verb
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
- ridiculed
- mocked
- ragged on
- teased
- derided
- taunted
- scouted
- laughed (at)
- jeered
- jibed
- poked fun at
- cocked snooks (at)
- gibed
- parodied
- skewered
- made sport of
- made fun of
- put down
- cocked a snook (at)
- imitated
- tormented
- targeted
- harassed
- rid
- scorned
- ribbed
- disparaged
- ragged
- belittled
- sneered (at)
- decried
- rode
- rallied
- baited
- quizzed
- mimicked
- scoffed (at)
- caricatured
- razzed
- twitted
- pestered
- tweaked
- bugged
- satirized
- poohed
- parroted
- chaffed
- jived
- kidded
- harried
- catcalled
- heckled
- pilloried
- needled
- travestied
- lampooned
- burlesqued
- hassled
- pooh-poohed
- aped
- joshed
- bad-mouthed
- barracked
- took off (on)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- approved
- endorsed
- indorsed
- sanctioned
- commended
- applauded
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
- dismissed
- killed
- vetoed
- refused
- downed
- negatived
- declined
- disallowed
- blackballed
- disapproved
- nixed
- blacklisted
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- confirmed
- approved
- passed
- admitted
- allowed
- assented (to)
- ratified
- elected
- supported
- sanctioned
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
- refuted
- overturned
- disproved
- challenged
- confuted
- discussed
- rebutted
- falsified
- discredited
- debunked
- disconfirmed
- talked over
- belied
- confounded
- contested
- questioned
- gave the lie to
- doubted
- overthrew
- hashed (over)
- debated
- mistrusted
- queried
- mooted
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- established
- proved
- confirmed
- recorded
- backed (up)
- verified
- showed
- documented
- validated
- supported
- evidenced
- witnessed
- identified
- illustrated
- certified
- demonstrated
- displayed
- manifested
- corroborated
- attested
- evinced
- substantiated
- adduced
- buttressed
- authenticated
- dynamic augment
- dynamic brake
- dynamic braking
- dynamic factor
- dynamic geology
- dynamic head
- dynamic isomerism
- dynamic load
- dynamic metamorphism
- dynamic meteorology
- dynamic microphone
- dynamic model
- Dynamic Monarchianism
- dynamic oceanography
- dynamic pressure
- dynamic psychology
- dynamic range
- dynamic refraction
- dynamic reproducer
- dynamic scale model
- dynamic speaker
- dynamic viscosity
- dynamical
- dynamical parallax
- dynamically