forestall
Americanverb (used with object)
-
forestalls,
present (3rd person singular)
-
forestalled,
past participle, past
-
forestalling
present participle
-
to prevent, hinder, or thwart by action in advance.
to forestall a riot by deploying police.
-
to act beforehand with or get ahead of; anticipate.
-
to buy up (goods) in advance in order to increase the price when resold.
-
to prevent sales at (a fair, market, etc.) by buying up or diverting goods.
verb
-
to delay, stop, or guard against beforehand
-
to anticipate
-
-
to prevent or hinder sales at (a market, etc) by buying up merchandise in advance, etc
-
to buy up (merchandise) for profitable resale Compare corner
-
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
forestallsimple
-
forestallssimple
-
have forestalledperfect
-
has forestalledperfect
-
am forestallingprogressive
-
are forestallingprogressive
-
is forestallingprogressive
-
have been forestallingperfect progressive
-
has been forestallingperfect progressive
Past
-
forestalledsimple
-
had forestalledperfect
-
was forestallingprogressive
-
were forestallingprogressive
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
The Pearl
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
100 SAT Words Beginning with "F"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
All three have said since the meeting that they favored raising rates now in order to forestall the possible need for steeper hikes later.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
To forestall this happening to younger women who are currently caregiving, she educates them about spousal IRAs, which allow nonworking spouses to save for retirement based on household income.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
Yet he assures us that he and his colleagues in Congress can forestall the inexorable march of technology to protect us from this fate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 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
“She and others are about to inherit this sanctuary, a vital step toward reaching our ultimate ends. After decades of persistence, nothing can forestall me.”
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
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
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
Yet many physicians have the mistaken belief that a longer course of antibiotics forestalls resistant strains.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 27, 2021
So that, unless Abd el Hamid places himself openly at the head of the warlike movement in Africa and so forestalls a rival, he is not likely long to give it his loyal support.
From The Future of Islam by Wilfred Scawen Blunt
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
So this was largely a case of harm forestalled rather than harm halted: implementation is easier in such cases, as no ‘making good’ is required.
From Salon ● May 28, 2025
At the same time, steady growth and hiring have forestalled a recession, which was widely predicted at the end of last year.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 26, 2023
The point is, Paradise Media forestalled most of them when they pledged to keep commercial content separate from the Believer’s editorial archive.
From Slate ● May 17, 2022
She nodded almost imperceptibly and then opened her mouth, but Snape forestalled her.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
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
Beshear’s refusal was enormously significant in forestalling a real step backward for the abolitionist movement.
From Slate ● Jul. 18, 2025
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
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.
