preempt
verb
Simple meaning
Take the place of or have precedence over.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
preeemptSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɹiɛmpt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Take the place of or have precedence over
“Live broadcast of the presidential debate preempts the regular news hour.”
transitive
To displace or take the place of (by having higher precedence, etc).
transitive
To prevent or beat to the punch, to forestall an expected occurrence by acting first.
transitive
To secure (land, etc.) by the right of preemption (purchasing before others, e.g. land because one already occupies it).
transitive
To appropriate first.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Take the place of or have precedence over
Used this way, preempt is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“Live broadcast of the presidential debate preempts the regular news hour.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use preempt
- “Live broadcast of the presidential debate preempts the regular news hour.”verb
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.