Advertisement

Advertisement

preemptively

or pre-emp·tive·ly

[ pree-emp-tiv-lee ]

adverb

  1. before or in preference to other buyers, claimants, candidates, etc.:

    TriStar has preemptively purchased the movie rights to Williams’ new novel, the sequel to her debut bestseller.

  2. as a measure taken against something anticipated or feared; preventively:

    Knowing I’d be practicing piano for hours every day, I preemptively left polite notes for the upstairs and downstairs neighbors—with cookies attached—apologizing for the noise.

  3. Bridge. (said of bidding) at an unnecessarily high level, as a defensive maneuver to make communication between one’s opponents more difficult:

    The more tricks you are certain of winning, given your hand, the higher the level at which you can bid preemptively.



Discover More

Word History and Origins

Discover More

Example Sentences

Join us at CyberSecure, our inaugural virtual event on the business of cyber risk, to hear how smart companies are striking preemptively, and what emerging technologies are proven to support smart security.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and others have all taken different measures, from preemptively turning off features to silently banning hashtags.

New York City, the nation’s largest school district, has preemptively canceled snow days for the year, while districts from Maryland to Michigan have hinted that calling a snow day will be about as likely this winter as an all-school assembly.

The vast majority of fires happen routinely near roadsides, near utilities infrastructure, and unfortunately, before our technology, there was no way to stop them preemptively.

From Fortune

He also refused to say he would accept the results of the election or that he will not preemptively declare victory before all the ballots are counted.

They would either be annexed to a larger unit after defeat, or they would form one preemptively to avoid defeat.

On Monday, Freedom Works, Heritage Action, and Americans for Prosperity preemptively criticized any Ryan-Murray bipartisan deal.

Chase, the biggest retail bank in the metro area, has preemptively closed branches in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

His editorializing aside, he acknowledges that the first statement was issued "more or less" preemptively.

But historians are already preemptively dousing our enthusiasm for the Emancipation Proclamation.

Advertisement

Word of the Day

gallimaufry

[gal-uh-maw-free ]

Meaning and examples

Start each day with the Word of the Day in your inbox!

By clicking "Sign Up", you are accepting Dictionary.com Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policies.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


preemptivepreemptive right