Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[missdaredevil]

A *pre-emptive* Amercian strike is to acquire nuclear weapons themselves.

The closest thing I could find is *law purchase: the act or process of purchasing something ( formal ) *.
Is that a new word?

[bud]

from Cambridge Dictionaries online:

describes something that is done before other people can act, especially to prevent them from doing something else:

The Treasury has decided to raise interest rates as a pre-emptive measure against inflation.
The prime minister authorized a pre-emptive air strike against the rebels.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=62179&dict=CALD