strike down

verb

struck down; struck down also stricken down; striking down; strikes down

transitive verb

: annul, nullify

the board struck down the appointment

especially : to declare (a law) illegal and unenforceable

the Supreme Court struck down the law

Synonyms

• abate
• abolish
• abrogate
• annul
• avoid
• cancel
• disannul
• dissolve
• invalidate
• negate
• null
• nullify
• quash
• repeal
• rescind
• roll back
• vacate
• void

Examples of strike down in a Sentence

a law that was later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court as unconstitutional

Recent Examples on the Web

And if the court does order a stay — as the President-elect requested — or strikes down the law altogether? —Rosemary Feitelberg, WWD, 10 Jan. 2025

The University of California enrolled a record number of Californians in Fall 2024, while UC Berkeley joined UCLA in bucking national trends at elite institutions that saw declines in new Black and Latino students in the first class since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action. —Jaweed Kaleem, Los Angeles Times, 7 Jan. 2025

Only in 2017 did a federal court strike down a racial-gerrymandering scheme that had kept Navajo voting power confined to one district. —Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 7 Jan. 2025

Net neutrality was immediately seen as a prime target to be struck down without Chevron. —Lauren Feiner, The Verge, 2 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1779, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

strike down

verb

: to make null and void : annul

struck down the proposal

especially : to declare (a law) illegal and unenforceable

the court struck down the law

Legal Definition

strike down

transitive verb

: annul, nullify

the trustee…can strike down transfers

—J. J. White and R. S. Summers

especially : to declare (a law) illegal and unenforceable

the court struck down death penalty provisions

—L. H. Tribe