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impeachment - 4 dictionary results

im⋅peach⋅ment

  [im-peech-muhnt]
Use impeachment in a Sentence
–noun
1. the impeaching of a public official before an appropriate tribunal.
2. (in Congress or a state legislature) the presentation of formal charges against a public official by the lower house, trial to be before the upper house.
3. demonstration that a witness is less worthy of belief.
4. the act of impeaching.
5. the state of being impeached.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME empechement < AF. See impeach, -ment
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To impeachment
im·peach   (ĭm-pēch')   
tr.v.   im·peached, im·peach·ing, im·peach·es
    1. To make an accusation against.
    2. To charge (a public official) with improper conduct in office before a proper tribunal.
  2. To challenge the validity of; try to discredit: impeach a witness's credibility.

[Middle English empechen, to impede, accuse, from Anglo-Norman empecher, from Late Latin impedicāre, to entangle : Latin in-, in; see in-2 + Latin pedica, fetter; see ped- in Indo-European roots.]
im·peach'er n., im·peach'ment n.
Word History: Nothing hobbles a President so much as impeachment, and there is an etymological as well as a procedural reason for this. The word impeach can be traced back through Anglo-Norman empecher to Late Latin impedicāre, "to catch, entangle," from Latin pedica, "fetter for the ankle, snare." Thus we find that Middle English empechen, the ancestor of our word, means such things as "to cause to get stuck fast," "hinder or impede," "interfere with," and "criticize unfavorably." A legal sense of empechen is first recorded in 1384. This sense, which had previously developed in Old French, was "to accuse, bring charges against."

Usage Note: When an irate citizen demands that a disfavored public official be impeached, the citizen clearly intends for the official to be removed from office. This popular use of impeach as a synonym of "throw out" (even if by due process) does not accord with the legal meaning of the word. As recent history has shown, when a public official is impeached, that is, formally accused of wrongdoing, this is only the start of what can be a lengthy process that may or may not lead to the official's removal from office. In strict usage, an official is impeached (accused), tried, and then convicted or acquitted. The vaguer use of impeach reflects disgruntled citizens' indifference to whether the official is forced from office by legal means or chooses to resign to avoid further disgrace.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Impeachment

Im*peach"ment\, n. [Cf. F. emp[^e]chement.] The act of impeaching, or the state of being impeached; as: (a) Hindrance; impediment; obstruction. [Obs.]

Willing to march on to Calais, Without impeachment. --Shak. (b) A calling to account; arraignment; especially, of a public officer for maladministration.

The consequence of Coriolanus' impeachment had like to have been fatal to their state. --Swift. (c) A calling in question as to purity of motives, rectitude of conduct, credibility, etc.; accusation; reproach; as, an impeachment of motives. --Shak.

Note: In England, it is the privilege or right of the House of Commons to impeach, and the right of the House of Lords to try and determine impeachments. In the United States, it is the right of the House of Representatives to impeach, and of the Senate to try and determine impeachments.

Articles of impeachment. See under Article.

Impeachment of waste (Law), restraint from, or accountability for, injury; also, a suit for damages for injury. --Abbott.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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impeachment

A formal accusation of wrongdoing against a public official. According to the United States Constitution, the House of Representatives can vote to impeach an official, but the Senate actually tries the case. Several presidencies have been blemished by impeachment or the threat of impeachment: President Andrew Johnson was impeached after the Civil War but was acquitted. President Richard Nixon resigned from office as the House of Representatives prepared to initiate impeachment proceedings. President William Jefferson Clinton was impeached in 1998 but was acquitted by the Senate the following year.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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