preemption

[pree-emp-shuhn]

noun

the act or right of claiming or purchasing before or in preference to others.

Also, pre-emp·tion.

Origin:
1595–1605; < Medieval Latin praeëmpt(us) bought beforehand (past participle of praeëmere) + -ion. See pre-, emptor

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Preemption is always a great word to know.

So is quincunx. Does it mean:

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

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WordNet

preemption
noun
1.	the judicial principle asserting the supremacy of federal over state legislation on the same subject
2.	the right of a government to seize or appropriate something (as property)
3.	the right to purchase something in advance of others
4.	a prior appropriation of something; "the preemption of bandwidth by commercial interests"

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Related Words

preemptive

Matching Quote

"It is easier to discover another such a new world as Columbus did, than to go within one fold of this which we appear to know so well; the land is lost sight of, the compass varies, and mankind mutiny; and still history accumulates like rubbish before the portals of nature. But there is only necessary a moment's sanity and sound senses, to teach us that there is a nature behind the ordinary, in which we have only some vague preemption right and western reserve as yet. We live on the outskirts of that region. Carved wood, and floating boughs, and sunset skies are all that we know of it.... Let us not, my friends, be wheedled and cheated into good behavior to earn the salt of our eternal porridge, whoever they are that attempt it. Let us wait a little, and not purchase any clearing here, trusting that richer bottoms will soon be put up. It is but thin soil where we stand; I have felt my roots in a richer ere this. I have seen a bunch of violets in a glass vase, tied loosely with a straw, which reminded me of myself."

-Henry David Thoreau

preemption

pre·emp·tion