English edit

Etymology edit

Blend of pre- +‎ rebuttal

Pronunciation edit

  • (file)

Noun edit

prebuttal (plural prebuttals)

  1. (slang) A preemptive rebuttal.
    • 2001 December 17, Hubert B. Herring, “Roll Over, Shakespeare, the Future Is Here”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
      You're no flexecuive, after all, just a lowly permalance. Your prebuttals fall flat, and he orders you on to a data fast, tosses a message slip on your inflatable, and leaves.
    • 2021 October 22, Marina Hyde, “Finally, Facebook can say it’s not the most toxic social network”, in The Guardian[2]:
      Still, is there a more exciting player in the prebuttal space than Facebook, whose attempts to get out in front of the fortnightly exposés of its behaviour are fast becoming a totally non-ominous part of the early 21st-century powerscape?

Related terms edit