Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun buzzword, PR jargon A preemptive rebuttal.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • BASH: Now, what you just saw there were the Democratic leaders in the House and the Senate give what they called their prebuttal to the president's State of the Union Address.

    CNN Transcript Jan 19, 2007 2007

  • The other thing that you can apply that five-word prebuttal to, "it's not going to happen," the draft.

    CNN Transcript Sep 5, 2006 2006

  • Romney at a stop in Tampa yesterday blasted Obama for failing to restart the struggling U.S. economy as he delivered what his campaign called a "prebuttal" to the president's State of the Union speech to Congress last night.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2012

  • House Minority Leader John Boehner is planning to make a "prebuttal" speech ahead of Obama's address, speaking to about 10,000 people Tuesday afternoon at the 92nd American Legion National Convention in Milwaukee.

    Obama's Iraq speech: No 'Mission Accomplished' from Oval Office 2010

  • So much for that theory that Ploffle's PowerPoint presentation was "prebuttal" for an expected bad result in this poll.

    New Obama Iowa Radio Ad Hits Hillary, Edwards Health Care Plans 2009

  • Compare what New York Magazine did for the Kochs: Uber-investigative journalist Charles Lewis profile on David Koch they published was essentially "planted" as a kind of prebuttal to soften the blows of Mayer's profile.

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed 2010

  • Compare what New York Magazine did for the Kochs: Uber-investigative journalist Charles Lewis profile on David Koch they published was essentially "planted" as a kind of prebuttal to soften the blows of Mayer's profile.

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed 2010

  • Compare what New York Magazine did for the Kochs: Uber-investigative journalist Charles Lewis profile on David Koch they published was essentially "planted" as a kind of prebuttal to soften the blows of Mayer's profile.

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed 2010

  • There's a bit about how the Tories 'web team (now numbering several members strong) listen to speeches given up their opponents to buy up, in real-time, phrases that they can link to their "prebuttal" of their adversaries' arguments, like Google ads on the term "boiler scrappage scheme."

    techPresident Nancy Scola 2010

  • Compare what New York Magazine did for the Kochs: Uber-investigative journalist Charles Lewis profile on David Koch they published was essentially "planted" as a kind of prebuttal to soften the blows of Mayer's profile.

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed 2010

Comments

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  • I've never heard this word, but it makes complete sense that it exists. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, flannagan. I always learn something here...

    November 1, 2007

  • So is that like saying "I know what you're thinking, and don't even say it because you're wrong"?

    November 1, 2007

  • I think it's more like anticipating a counter argument to the point you are making and then incorporating that into your argument.

    Here. This should make it very clear:

    M: I came here for a good argument.

    A: No you didn't; no, you came here for an argument.

    M: An argument isn't just contradiction.

    A: It can be.

    M: No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.

    A: No it isn't.

    M: Yes it is! It's not just contradiction.

    A: Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position.

    M: Yes, but that's not just saying 'No it isn't.'

    A: Yes it is!

    M: No it isn't!

    A: Yes it is!

    M: Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes.

    (short pause)

    A: No it isn't.

    M: It is.

    November 2, 2007

  • "I love Monty Python."

    "No you don't."

    November 2, 2007

  • Yes I do.

    No you don't.

    November 2, 2007

  • Prebuttal, a portmanteau of preemptive and rebuttal.

    December 24, 2024