Other forms: forestalled, forestalling, forestalls
To forestall is to act first so as to prevent something. Forestall criticism, forestall a challenge, forestall the objection.
It nearly always takes an unwelcome object, so criticism and objections are forestalled and good news is not. The Old English sense was to intercept goods before they reached the market, which was once a crime.
1verbforestallTo act first so as to prevent something.
“She arrived early to forestall any complaints about her being late.”
forestall is a preventing.
Old English foresteall means an ambush or interception, from fore plus steall, a position.
Old English
foresteall — intervention, hindrance of justice, ambush
Middle English
forestallen — to forestall, intercept, ambush, way-lay
English, today
forestall
Built from
From Middle English forestallen (“to forestall, intercept, ambush, way-lay”), from forestalle (“a forestalling, interception”), from Old English foresteall (“intervention, hindrance of justice, ambush”), from fore- (“ahead of, before”) + steall (“position”), equivalent to fore + stall.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA