Definition of Forestall

1. Verb. Keep from happening or arising; make impossible. "Your role in the projects precludes your involvement in the competitive project"


2. Verb. Act in advance of; deal with ahead of time.
Exact synonyms: Anticipate, Counter, Foresee
Generic synonyms: Act, Move
Derivative terms: Anticipator, Anticipatory, Forestalling

Definition of Forestall

1. v. t. To take beforehand, or in advance; to anticipate.

Definition of Forestall

1. Noun. (obsolete or historical) An ambush; plot; an interception; waylaying; rescue. ¹

2. Noun. Something situated or placed in front. ¹

3. Verb. (transitive) To prevent, delay or hinder something by taking precautionary or anticipatory measures; to avert. ¹

4. Verb. (transitive) To preclude or bar from happening, render impossible. ¹

5. Verb. (archaic) To purchase the complete supply of a good, particularly foodstuffs, in order to charge a monopoly price. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Forestall

1. [v -ED, -ING, -S]

Medical Definition of Forestall

1. 1. To take beforehand, or in advance; to anticipate. "What need a man forestall his date of grief, And run to meet what he would most avoid?" (Milton) 2. To take possession of, in advance of some one or something else, to the exclusion or detriment of the latter; to get ahead of; to preoccupy; also, to exclude, hinder, or prevent, by prior occupation, or by measures taken in advance. "An ugly serpent which forestalled their way." (Fairfax) "But evermore those damsels did forestall Their furious encounter." (Spenser) "To be forestalled ere we come to fall." (Shak) "Habit is a forestalled and obstinate judge." (Rush) 3. To deprive; with of. "All the better; may This night forestall him of the coming day!" (Shak) 4. To obstruct or stop up, as a way; to stop the passage of on highway; to intercept on the road, as goods on the way to market. To forestall the market, to buy or contract for merchandise or provision on its way to market, with the intention of selling it again at a higher price; to dissuade persons from bringing their goods or provisions there; or to persuade them to enhance the price when there. This was an offense at law in England until 1844. Synonym: To anticipate, monopolize, engross. Origin: OE. Forstallen to stop, to obstruct; to stop (goods) on the way to the market by buying them beforehand, from forstal obstruction, AS. Forsteal, foresteall, prop, a placing one's self before another. See Fore, and Stall. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Forestall

forest health
forest machine
forest plan
forest plot
forest plots
forest red gum
forest residue
forest tent caterpillar
forest yaws
forestage
forestages
forestal
forestaled
forestaling
forestall (current term)
forestallable
forestalled
forestaller
forestallers
forestalling
forestallingly
forestallment
forestallments
forestalls
forestals
forestart
forestation
forestations
forestaves

Literary usage of Forestall

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Principles of City Land Values by Richard Melancthon Hurd (1903)
"Some early plats attempt to forestall later needs and some to determine center of city.—Normal sizes of streets, alleys, blocks and lota: percentage of ..."

2. A Plea for the West by Lyman Beecher (1835)
"All combinations to forestall and baffle its movements tend to the destruction of liberty. Its fluctuations are indeed an evil; but the power to arrest its ..."

3. Government War Contracts by John Franklin Crowell (1920)
"CHAPTER XIV Navy's Procedure to forestall Profiteering How to get away from market conditions made abnormal by war demands was the problem with which all ..."

4. Mormonism and the Mormons: A Historical View of the Rise and Progress of the by Daniel Parish Kidder (1842)
"Prophecies—Plagiarisms—Caricature of Scripture— Plates—Contrivance to forestall objections—Harris's visit to Dr. Anthon—Dr. ..."

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