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Noun: preemption  pree'emp-shun
  1. The right to purchase something in advance of others
    - pre-emption
     
  2. (law) the judicial principle asserting the supremacy of federal over state legislation on the same subject
    - pre-emption
     
  3. The right of a government to seize or appropriate something (as property)
    - pre-emption
     
  4. A prior appropriation of something
    "the preemption of bandwidth by commercial interests";
    - pre-emption

Derived forms: preemptions, pre-emptions

Type of: appropriation, judicial doctrine, judicial principle, legal principle, legal right, right

Encyclopedia: Preemption, Illinois