Preempt (also spelled "Pre-empt") is a bid in contract bridge whose primary function is to take up bidding space from the opponents. A preemptive bid is usually made by jumping, i.e. skipping one or more bidding levels. Since it deprives the opponents of the bidding space, it is expected that they will either find a wrong contract (too high or in a wrong denomination) of their own, or fail to find any.