Definition of "forestall" []

• To delay, hinder, or prevent by taking precautionary measures beforehand. See Synonyms at prevent. (verb-transitive)
• To deal with or think of beforehand; anticipate. (verb-transitive)
• To prevent or hinder normal sales in (a market) by buying up merchandise, discouraging persons from bringing their goods to market, or encouraging an increase in prices in goods already on sale. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "So rather than sort of eliminating politics it really might just kind of forestall it and really kind of rile it up over the next 48 months."
• "Mr. Stone then takes issue with S. 440's recognition of the President's power to "forestall" an attack on the US or our Forces abroad."
• "S. 440 carefully circumscribes the President's discretion to "forestall" by placing the burden on him to prove that an attack is "direct and imminent.""