How to Use forestall in a Sentence

forestall

verb
Definition of forestallnext
Synonyms for forestallnext
  • He forestalled critics by offering a defense of the project.
  • His comments were meant to forestall criticism of his proposal.
  • Negotiations failed to forestall the conflict.
  • How much will that help to forestall the threat of famine?
    — Washington Post, 15 Dec. 2021
  • If rates stay that low, the U.S could could forestall a calamity for a few years.
    — Shawn Tully, Fortune, 5 Mar. 2021
  • To fail to pick up a rock, when the other caveman picked up a rock, did not forestall the arms race.
    — Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 26 July 2023
  • If fight-or-flight fails, the instinct to feign death kicks in as an attempt to forestall the danger.
    — Rachel Nuwer, Scientific American, 14 May 2024
  • That might help end the current pandemic and forestall the next one.
    — Jon Cohen, Science | AAAS, 15 Apr. 2021
  • The bank has tried before, and failed, to forestall such a reaction.
    — The Economist, 28 Oct. 2017
  • On the one hand, this forestalls a costlier decision — what to do with the trash when the landfill does fill up.
    — David Gutman, The Seattle Times, 26 Mar. 2019
  • The goal of Putin and his allies is to forestall popular protest among those tired of Putin’s long reign.
    — Regina Smyth, The Conversation, 16 Jan. 2020
  • To forestall a colossal sell-off, the Russian stock market was closed all of last week.
    — David Remnick, The New Yorker, 5 Mar. 2022
  • The idea is twofold: to streamline the cooking and to prevent or forestall accidents and stress.
    — Bill St. John, The Denver Post, 26 May 2017
  • For weeks, the United States and China had appeared close to a deal that would have forestalled tariffs.
    — New York Times, 19 June 2018
  • Not for outdoor use, mind you, but for a much more noble cause: to forestall the climate crisis.
    — Corey Buhay, Outside Online, 30 Jan. 2022
  • The Nets changed the colors on the court and on their jerseys to the franchise’s vintage blue and red, as if to forestall a funeral by putting away the dress blacks.
    — Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 26 Apr. 2022
  • And none of these moves can forestall an invasion, if Putin has already made up his mind.
    — Adam Entous, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2022
  • By the time of the award, Kissinger had helped forestall an earlier peace deal in Vietnam and backed the bombing of Cambodia.
    — David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 21 Sep. 2017
  • This is a very, very good film devoted to love, and to forestalling the cure permanently.
    — Michael Phillips, chicagotribune.com, 13 Dec. 2017
  • But the unlucky nominee’s bid was forestalled by the U.S. Senate, blocked due to the hostile politics of the time.
    — Erick Trickey, Smithsonian, 20 Mar. 2017
  • But the unlucky nominee’s bid was forestalled by the U.S. Senate, blocked due to the hostile politics of the time.
    — Erick Trickey, Smithsonian, 20 Mar. 2017
  • What incentives are there to forestall the next episode of Syria's nightmare?
    — Tim Lister, CNN, 15 Apr. 2018
  • None of these deficiencies were enough to forestall the Navy's order, though.
    — Eric Tegler, Popular Mechanics, 29 Dec. 2016
  • But first, to forestall any questions: No, Hank the Cowdog and subsequent recordings of the series are not ...
    — Sarah Schutte, National Review, 10 Apr. 2022
  • The storyline here in the U.K. will be the hip injury that forestalled Murray’s title defense.
    — Jon Wertheim, SI.com, 12 July 2017
  • At the same time, steady growth and hiring have forestalled a recession, which was widely predicted at the end of last year.
    — Christopher Rugaber, Fortune, 26 Oct. 2023
  • That buildup was exactly the result Mr. Putin was trying to forestall.
    — New York Times, 17 Mar. 2022
  • Each show plays teasing games of will-they-or-won’t-they, finding endless last-minute ways to forestall kisses or worse.
    — Mike Hale, New York Times, 15 Feb. 2018
  • If these practices are not forestalled soon, the least scrupulous actors will quickly accrue power and the fancy lobbyists and lawyers that come along with it.
    — Adam Clair, Vox, 5 Aug. 2024
  • Respondents were polled just days after the news broke that Washington had placed its first hold in years on a weapons shipment to Israel to try to forestall an Israeli invasion of Rafah.
    — Daniel Silverman, Foreign Affairs, 28 Aug. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'forestall.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: