forestall
Americanverb (used with object)
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forestalls,
present (3rd person singular)
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forestalled,
past participle, past
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forestalling
present participle
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to prevent, hinder, or thwart by action in advance.
to forestall a riot by deploying police.
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to act beforehand with or get ahead of; anticipate.
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to buy up (goods) in advance in order to increase the price when resold.
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to prevent sales at (a fair, market, etc.) by buying up or diverting goods.
verb
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to delay, stop, or guard against beforehand
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to anticipate
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to prevent or hinder sales at (a market, etc) by buying up merchandise in advance, etc
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to buy up (merchandise) for profitable resale Compare corner
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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forestallsimple
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forestallssimple
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have forestalledperfect
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has forestalledperfect
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am forestallingprogressive
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are forestallingprogressive
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is forestallingprogressive
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have been forestallingperfect progressive
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has been forestallingperfect progressive
Past
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forestalledsimple
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had forestalledperfect
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was forestallingprogressive
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were forestallingprogressive
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had been forestallingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of forestall
1350–1400; Middle English forstallen, verbal derivative of forstalle, Old English foresteall intervention (to defeat justice), waylaying. See fore-, stall 2
Explanation
It takes a bit of planning to forestall something, meaning stop it from happening. To forestall the effects of aging, exercise and take care of your health all your life. You can break the word forestall into parts to figure out its meaning. The prefix fore is one you've seen in words like forewarn, which means "to warn in advance." And you probably know that stall means "delay." So to forestall is to stall in advance, or put another way, to try to prevent or put off something you don't want to happen.
Vocabulary lists containing forestall
"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin
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The Pearl
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "F"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But there are signs of life emerging that could help forestall another historic low point.
From Barron's ● May 25, 2026
Officials struggled to answer questions about post-fire beach safety in part because of a lack of historical data on pollution levels, a pitfall researchers would like to forestall before another disaster arrives.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2026
"The threat of an H5N1 pandemic in humans is a genuine one, but we can hope to forestall it through better surveillance and a more nimble public-health response," Prof Menon told the BBC.
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2025
Our family had long used the “eldest daughter” inheritance trope to forestall bad feelings.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 21, 2025
This would forestall any possible rumors of their approach.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
There is a good chance that this sordid case will now end in a victory for Silva’s targets, or at least a dismissal that forestalls a ruinous, million-dollar judgment against them.
From Slate ● May 4, 2023
The agreement comes after talks began several weeks ago, and forestalls a May 31 deadline for workers to strike.
From Reuters ● May 11, 2022
“It looks like either he senses something is coming or is hoping this move forestalls it,” said Wilde.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 26, 2022
By pretending that his stock sales were mandated by his Twitter voters, Musk forestalls any speculation that they reflect his doubts about Tesla’s future or about its stratospheric stock market valuation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2021
Tante had smiled upon her, deeply, had held her hand, closely, and had asked, with the playful air which forestalls gratitude, how she liked her present.
From Tante by Anne Douglas Sedgwick
And a judge last week ordered the town to release video of the incident, a move the town forestalled by appealing Wednesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
Wednesday’s decision forestalled any such attack on double jeopardy.
From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2024
Until they realize that living together, as messy as it is likely to be, is far preferable to the existential fear of foreshortened, forestalled and anxiety-filled lives recycled forever.
From Salon ● Jan. 1, 2024
The fuel’s expensive production process has forestalled any mass adoption of the fuel source.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 16, 2022
The badger forestalled the explanation that was upon the young mouse’s lips.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
The rate of U.S. inflation could soon top 3% and push the Federal Reserve further away from its 2% target, forestalling additional reductions in interest rates.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 25, 2026
A study published last year in the journal Nature, for example, found that a personalized vaccine showed promise in forestalling recurrence of clear cell renal cell carcinoma, an aggressive form of kidney cancer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
Gill underplays Booth’s mental challenges, perhaps forestalling a diagnosis that could make it easier for us to distance ourselves from the character.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2025
Publication of these studies is far in the future, but in the meantime, the mathematical model offers a starting point for considering the feasibility and possible benefits of forestalling menopause in healthy women.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 6, 2024
From his putting his finger to his lips, I gathered that he expected her to wake before long and was afraid of forestalling nature.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
