forestall

[fohr-stawl, fawr-] /foʊrˈstɔl, fɔr-/

verb (used with object)

to prevent, hinder, or thwart by action in advance:

to forestall a riot by deploying police.

to act beforehand with or get ahead of; anticipate.

to buy up (goods) in advance in order to increase the price when resold.

to prevent sales at (a fair, market, etc.) by buying up or diverting goods.

Origin

1350-1400; Middle English forstallen, verbal derivative of forstalle, Old English foresteall intervention (to defeat justice), waylaying. See fore-, stall²

Related forms

forestaller, noun

forestallment, forestalment, noun

unforestalled, adjective

Synonyms

1. preclude, obviate, intercept, obstruct. 2. prevent, avert.

Examples from the web for forestall

Some want restrictions to cut population growth and forestall ecological catastrophe.
Some scientists are calling for more study of technological interventions to forestall catastrophic global warming.
To forestall an attempt to vote him out of office, he returned, calling an emergency council meeting at his home.
One way to forestall such a crash is to breed plants that are resistant to infection.
The government volunteered to face a confidence vote, in an impromptu parliamentary session, to forestall this threat.
No amount of intellectual engineering can forestall the inevitable.
To forestall another war, they should change their ways.
Secondly, a lower real interest rate doesn't necessarily mean that the real interest rate is low enough to forestall recession.
Federal authorities moved quickly to forestall any challenges to the succession.
She drew the shades, though not so completely as absolutely to forestall legerdemain.

British Dictionary definitions for forestall

forestall

/fɔːˈstɔːl/

verb (transitive)

to delay, stop, or guard against beforehand

to anticipate

to prevent or hinder sales at (a market, etc) by buying up merchandise in advance, etc
to buy up (merchandise) for profitable resale Compare corner (sense 21)

Derived Forms

forestaller, noun
forestalment, especially (US) forestallment, noun

Word Origin

C14 forestallen to waylay, from Old English foresteall an ambush, from fore- in front of + steall place

Word Origin and History for forestall

late 14c. (implied in forestalling), "to lie in wait for;" also "to intercept goods before they reach public markets and buy them privately" (formerly a crime; mid-14c. in this sense in Anglo-French), from Old English noun foresteall "intervention, hindrance (of justice); an ambush, a waylaying," literally "a standing before (someone)," from fore- "before" + steall "standing position" (see stall (n.1)). Modern sense of "to anticipate and delay" is from 1580s. Related: Forestalled; forestalling.