forestall
verb /fɔːˈstɔːl/
/fɔːrˈstɔːl/
(formal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they forestall | /fɔːˈstɔːl/ /fɔːrˈstɔːl/ |
| he / she / it forestalls | /fɔːˈstɔːlz/ /fɔːrˈstɔːlz/ |
| past simple forestalled | /fɔːˈstɔːld/ /fɔːrˈstɔːld/ |
| past participle forestalled | /fɔːˈstɔːld/ /fɔːrˈstɔːld/ |
| -ing form forestalling | /fɔːˈstɔːlɪŋ/ /fɔːrˈstɔːlɪŋ/ |
- forestall something/somebody to prevent something from happening or somebody from doing something by doing something first
- Try to anticipate what your child will do and forestall problems.
- Any plans for a peaceful settlement were forestalled by the intervention of the army.
Extra Examples- They have tried to forestall criticism by keeping people fully informed of what they are doing.
- He opened his mouth to speak but Richard forestalled him.
- Let me start with a couple of explanations to forestall any possible misunderstandings.
Oxford Collocations DictionaryForestall is used with these nouns as the object:- criticism
Word OriginOld English foresteall ‘an ambush’ (see fore- and stall). As a verb the earliest sense (Middle English) was ‘intercept and buy up goods before they reach the market, so as to raise the price’ (formerly an offence).