to strike down
50
7.4
- phrasal verb
- /straɪk daʊn/
- Formal
:
anular
- To preserve the Constitution itself, the Court may strike down an act of Congress that violates its provisions.
- strike down laws
- the court struck down
- Supreme Court struck down
All three moves have now been struck down by the courts.
- All three moves have now been struck down by the courts.
- I don't know any knowledgeable lawyer who would bet that the Supreme Court would strike down the law that prohibits affirmative action.
- You see it in a spate of laws that are getting struck down with state governments saying that you can be kicked out of school if you hackle a speaker.
Examples
-
Moore then criticized and ultimately struck down Texas's use of the Briseno factors for evaluating adaptive functioning.
Academic text (2017) -
The court struck down the posting of the Ten Commandments in a public school.
Academic text (1993) -
I think the statute is so bad that the court just has to strike it all down.
-
All three moves have now been struck down by the courts.
-
The bill will strike down voting restrictions in all elections, federal, state and local.
-
A federal judge subsequently struck down the measure, a decision both cities appealed.
Academic text (2011) -
Both times, we have struck down the restriction on religious content.
Academic text (1995) -
In Lee v. Weisman, 1992, the Court struck down the graduation prayer as unconstitutional.
Academic text (1993) -
The court decided to strike down a controversial law that limited free speech.
-
In a landmark ruling, the judges struck down the state's mandatory minimum sentencing law.
Synonyms
224
1.0
To make a ticket, order, or rule no longer valid
96
6.2
Officially stop something from being valid, for example a license
44
7.9
Officially cancel a law, order, or agreement
15
7.2
To make a law or contract have no legal effect
11
8.1
Officially say a decision or order is not valid
To cancel an earlier decision that said something was not valid so it becomes valid again
Antonyms
How Final
- Formal
143
4.3
- Formal
6
6.3
- Formal
50
7.4
- Formal
33
6.1
- Formal
552
4.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'to declare a law invalid' is partially derivable from combining 'strike' (remove/cross out) with 'down' (bring down/defeat), so a learner could infer a general idea of removing or defeating a rule. However, the specific legal/institutional sense of formally annulling a law is somewhat specialized and not fully predictable from the parts without exposure, making the expression only partially transparent.
Etymology
Strike down in law comes from the image of a judge or clerk crossing a rule out on the page: to strike (mark out) it down so it is gone. That's why strike down means 'to declare a law or rule invalid'.