PREEMPT • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Preempt

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/prˈiˌɛmpt/ Listen

verb

Preempt v. t. & v. i. (past & past part. preempted; pres. part. preempting)

To settle upon (public land) with a right of preemption, as under the laws of the United States; to take by preemption. (Also spelled pre-empt)

To acquire or take for oneself first (an object or right), thereby preventing others from acquiring; to appropriate; to arrogate.

To supplant or take the place of (an action), due to changes in circumstances or priorities; as, the regular meeting was preempted by an emergency conference.

To prevent or delay (an event) by acting beforehand; to head off; to preclude.

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Etymology of 'Preempt'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Preempt" Quotes from Famous Books

... find her something over sixty, you'll gallantly shove her off on me, and preempt Miss Carrington. Oh! ...

— In Her Own Right • John Reed Scott

... pleasanter to get on in the world. Let the sheepiness be set on one side and the goatiness on the other, and immediately you know where you are. It is not necessary to ask that there be any increase of the one or any diminution of the other, but only that each shall preempt its own territory and stay there. Milk is good, and water is good, but don't set the milk-pail under the pump. Pleasure softens pain, but pain embitters pleasure; and who would not rather have his happiness concentrated into one memorable day that ...

— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, Number 59, September, 1862 • Various

... no prescriptive right to preempt the field of ethics. Many men may cultivate it with profit. Nevertheless, he, too, should cultivate it, not independently and with a disregard of what has been done by others, but in a spirit of hearty cooperation, thankfully ...

— A Handbook of Ethical Theory • George Stuart Fullerton