pre-empt

verb [T]

/ˌpriːˈempt/

Definition

› to do or say something before someone so that you make their words or actions unnecessary or not effective: The minister held a press conference in order to pre-empt criticism in the newspapers.Planning, expecting and arrangingPlotting and trapping › US to replace one television programme with another, usually more important one: All the networks pre-empted their regular schedules to broadcast news of the hijacking.Replacing and exchanging

(Definition of pre-empt verb from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)