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

Derived forms: pre-emptions, preemptions

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

Encyclopedia: Preemption Preemption, Illinois