Forestall meaning : To prevent, delay or hinder something by taking precautionary or anticipatory measures; to avert. To preclude or bar from happening, render impossible. To purchase the complete supply of a good, particularly foodstuffs, in order to charge a monopoly price. To anticipate, to act foreseeingly. To deprive (with of). To obstruct or stop up, as a road; to stop the passage of a highway; to intercept on the road, as goods on the way to market.