prebuttal

[pri-buht-l, pree-]

noun

1. an argument constructed in anticipation of a criticism.

   The alderman began his speech with a question-answer style prebuttal.

prebuttal

/ priːˈbʌtəl /

noun

1. informal,  a prepared response to an anticipated criticism

Word History and Origins

Origin of prebuttal¹

First recorded in 1980–85; pre- + (re)buttal

Word History and Origins

Origin of prebuttal¹

C20: _pre- + ( _re ) _buttal

Example Sentences

In a prebuttal video posted across his social media, Brand said he was about to face “very serious allegations that I absolutely refute,” without detailing them.

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The best part of Alito’s prebuttal, though, was how he justified taking “what would have otherwise been an unoccupied seat on a private flight to Alaska.”

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Justice Alito wrote in an op-ed this week in The Wall Street Journal that served as a prebuttal to a pending ProPublica article accusing him of ethics violations and highlighting his ties to billionaire Paul Singer.

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The details are infuriating, but not surprising because Alito tried to get ahead of the story by writing a "prebuttal" for the Wall Street Journal's editorial page, which ended up reading as a confession to deep and long-standing corruption.

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There’s no need for me to gild the lily in terms of debunking the Justice’s textualist reading of the relevant disclosure provisions, as others have ably rebutted Alito’s prebuttal since it surfaced.

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