preemption

Meanings

1. An act or process that preempts; a preventive or forestalling action; as:
2. The purchase of something before it is offered for sale to others.
3. The purchase of public land by the occupant.
4. The temporary interruption of a task without its cooperation and with the intention of resuming it at a later time.
5. The supersession of a conflicting law from a lower jurisdiction by an overlapping law from a higher jurisdiction.

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

Etymology

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