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shut down

A2 neutral separable both
In simple words

To turn off a machine or close a business or system so it stops working.

Literal meaning: To shut (close) and bring down (to a stopped state) — fairly transparent.

Meanings

1 A2 neutral

To stop a machine, computer, or system from operating.

"Please shut down your computer before you leave the office tonight."

Grammar: separable
2 A2 neutral

To close a business, factory, or service, either temporarily or permanently.

"The steel plant shut down in the 1990s and never reopened."

"The government has shut down. Let's reopen it."

— Donald Trump, Twitter/X (January 2018)
Grammar: separable
3 B1 idiomatic informal

To silence, stop, or completely neutralize a person or opposition.

"The debater was completely shut down by her opponent's evidence-based argument."

Grammar: separable
Usage notes

Extremely common in technology (shut down a computer), business (the factory shut down), and government (government shutdown). Can be transitive ('the company shut down the factory') or intransitive ('the system shut down'). Also used figuratively to mean silencing someone.

Commonly used with

computer factory server government reactor operation

Forms

Base
shut down
I/you/we/they
3rd person
shuts down
he/she/it
Past simple
shut down
yesterday
Past participle
shut down
have + pp
-ing form
shutting down
continuous

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Synonyms

cease operations close down halt power off switch off turn off

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