Pre-emptive

adj

adj ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Alternative spelling of preemptive. alt-of, alternative

    "The GNR made a pre-emptive attack in 1865 when it submitted a Bill to build a line from Bourne to Sleaford, purely to block any developments by the GNR."

Adjective
  1. 1
    designed or having the power to deter or prevent an anticipated situation or occurrence wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
preemptive

Example

More examples

"Government troops launched a pre-emptive attack on the insurgents, after receiving intelligence reports that they were planning an assault."

Related phrases

pre-emptively

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.