pre-empt

Universal Words verb [VN] 1 to prevent sth from happening by taking action to stop it: Her departure pre-empted any further questions. * A good training course will pre-empt many problems. * The government announced it had pre-empted a coup attempt. 2 to do or say sth before sb else does: She was just about to apologize when he pre-empted her. * I do not want to pre-empt anything that the treasurer is going to say. 3 (AmE) to replace a planned programme on the television: 'Roseanne' will be pre-empted by a special news bulletin.