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preemption

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preemption¹

  • /priːˈɛmpʃən/

Where it comes from

From Medieval Latin praeēmptiō (“previous purchase”), from praeemō (“buy before”), from Latin prae- (“before”) + emō (“buy”).

noun preemptions · præemption · præ-emption · pre-emption · preëmption

  1. countable, uncountable The purchase of something before it is offered for sale to others.
  2. countable, uncountable The purchase of public land by the occupant.
  3. countable, uncountable The temporary interruption of a task without its cooperation and with the intention of resuming it at a later time.
  4. countable, uncountable The supersession of a conflicting law from a lower jurisdiction by an overlapping law from a higher jurisdiction.

    Similar: occupancy

Preemption²

Where it comes from

From the American spelling of pre-emption.

proper noun

  1. A township and census-designated place therein, in Mercer County, Illinois, United States.

Translations

Every language

noun the purchase of something before it is offered for sale

Portuguêspreempção
Françaispréemption
DeutschVorkauf

noun computing: temporary interruption of a process

Portuguêspreempção
DeutschPräemption

noun the displacement of a lower jurisdiction's laws when they conflict with those of a higher jurisdiction

Españolpreempción
DeutschVorrangwirkung

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MLA

"preemption." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/preemption. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

preemption. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/preemption

Chicago

"preemption." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/preemption.

BibTeX
@misc{preemption_2026,
  title = {preemption},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/preemption},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}