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