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Glite Dictionary
✈️ Aircraft destroyed 🚫 A strong rejection
shootdown

shootdown

3 7.5
Bringing down a plane by shooting at it in war
  • noun
  • /ˈʃuːtdaʊn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : derribo
  • Analysts are examining the implications of the shootdown that occurred near the border last night.
  • helicopter shootdown
  • week after the shootdown
  • shootdown of two

Examples

  • French says he was told about the UFO "shootdown" by another military officer—a confidential source—from White Sands.

    Blog text (21)

  • The military confirmed the shootdown of an enemy aircraft during the operation in the region.

  • Witnesses described the tragic shootdown of a passenger plane by military forces.

How Severe

shootdown
  • Specialized
3 7.5
to strike
553 2.4
to damage
885 1.4
near miss
14 3.7

Surface Forms

shootdown singular
shootdowns plural

Morphology

shootdown = shoot + down (transparent) = shoot + down

The meaning 'bringing down an aircraft by shooting it' is a direct, literal composition of 'shoot' + 'down' and is predictable from the components.

Etymology

Shootdown comes from the parts shoot (to 'fire at') and down (to 'bring down'). It is used for the literal action of making a plane fall by shooting at it, so it means the physical 'bringing down' of an aircraft.