forestall

verb/fɔrˈstɔl/

Frequency rank: #18,370 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

to prevent something from happening by taking action in advance.

Illustration for the English word “forestall”

Example sentence

The manager decided to issue a public apology to forestall any further criticism from customers.

Synonyms & related words

More words in ranks 18,301–18,400