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Preempt   /prˈiˌɛmpt/   Listen
Preempt

verb
(past & past part. preempted; pres. part. preempting)
1.
Acquire for oneself before others can do so.
2.
Take the place of or have precedence over.  Synonym: displace.  "Discussion of the emergency situation will preempt the lecture by the professor"
3.
Gain possession of by prior right or opportunity, especially so as to obtain the right to buy (land).
4.
Make a preemptive bid in the game of bridge.
noun
1.
A high bid that is intended to prevent the opposing players from bidding.  Synonyms: pre-empt, preemptive bid.



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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

... his affection for her. She forgets too often that she is not called upon to give up her friends. They can come, and do come, when her husband is away at his work, while his friends, if they come at all, must come in his leisure hours which she often wishes to preempt for herself alone. It is the most short-sighted of follies for a woman to try to sweep clean of all former interests and friendships the life of the man with whom she is to try ...
— The Family and it's Members • Anna Garlin Spencer

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

... exceptional opportunities early lost true sensitiveness, and, both as guest and hostess, ignored the offense of inconsiderate and self- seeking interruptions. She broke into the speech of others with crude abandon. The itch to lead and preempt the conversation became uncontrollable. Finer natures thrown with her could but tolerate her "naive" discourtesy, while dependents had to dumbly endure. Mrs. Orr but stands as a type illustrating far too many mortally wearisome, social pretenders, prominent only through the tireless ...
— Our Nervous Friends - Illustrating the Mastery of Nervousness • Robert S. Carroll

... future with these mining towns, and unless the Christian work keeps pace with this kind of growth, this large territory will become notorious for bloody scenes as no portion of our land has ever been. Now is the time to preempt the country for Christ, by planting at strategic points the church and the Christian school, and through them to send forth to every part the pure, restraining and elevating influences of the gospel. God's call to us to do this work ...
— The American Missionary, Volume 43, No. 11, November, 1889 • Various



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