shut down
"shut-down" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shut down” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To close, terminate, or end.
Corpus desk
Index EN-shut-down · shut down · English
shut down · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | shut down |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “shut down” in English
Rare enough to double-check
shut down is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
shut down has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is shut down, spelled S-H-U-T- -D-O-W-N.
Definition
- 1To close, terminate, or end.
- 2To turn off or stop.
- 3To emotionally withdraw into oneself as a defense mechanism; to block out external stressors.
- 4To suppress, block out, or reject (an idea or an aspect of one's personality or identity).
- 5To pass (another vehicle), especially quickly.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how shut down appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
They are planning to shut down the entire building at the end of the month.
The time is now, the place the grim industrial city of Shaoyang, China, which has just been informed that its No. 2 Space Rocket Factory is going to shut down.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.