preemptive
preemptive Lexical Profile
preemptive Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Serving or intended to prevent, forestall, or deter an anticipated action or problem by acting first.
"The IT department took preemptive measures to secure the network before the software vulnerability could be exploited."
Relating to or conferring the prior right to purchase property, goods, or corporate shares before they are offered to the general public.
"Existing shareholders exercised their preemptive rights to purchase the newly issued stock and prevent dilution of their ownership."
In computing, designating a multitasking system in which the operating system can temporarily interrupt a running task to allocate processor time to another task.
"Modern operating systems rely on preemptive multitasking to ensure that a single unresponsive application cannot freeze the entire computer."
• Rhymes for preemptive
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Derived in the early 19th century from 'preempt' and '-ive', ultimately tracing back to the Medieval Latin 'praeemptus', from 'prae-' (before) and 'emere' (to buy or take). It originally referred to a legal right to purchase public land or corporate shares before others.