Shootdown
noun ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The shooting down of an aircraft, satellite, etc.
"Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who personally gave the order to go ahead with the satellite shootdown Wednesday, told reporters in Hawaii on Thursday that he was prepared to share some details of the operation with China to ease its concerns that the debris might still prove dangerous."
Example
More examples"Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who personally gave the order to go ahead with the satellite shootdown Wednesday, told reporters in Hawaii on Thursday that he was prepared to share some details of the operation with China to ease its concerns that the debris might still prove dangerous."
Etymology
Deverbal from shoot down.
Related phrases
More for "shootdown"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.