impeach
Other forms: impeached; impeaching; impeaches
Impeach means to charge someone with doing something wrong, specifically a high government official, such as the U.S. president, a senator, or a federal judge. Fortunately, very few presidents have had the dishonor of being impeached.
If you impeach a president, you charge him or her with a crime. Congress may vote to impeach a president, but being impeached is only the first step in removing an official from office. Impeach comes from the Latin impedicare, meaning "catch, entangle." To impeach also means to cast doubt on someone's character. In a courtroom, a lawyer could impeach the credibility of a witness in order to discredit whatever that person said.
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bring an accusation against; level a charge againstsynonyms: accuse, criminate, incriminatetypes:arraignaccuse of a wrong or an inadequacyrecriminatereturn an accusation against someone or engage in mutual accusations; charge in return
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charge (a public official) with an offense or misdemeanor committed while in office
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challenge the honesty or veracity of“the lawyers tried to impeach the credibility of the witnesses”type of:challengeissue a challenge to
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Vocabulary lists containing impeach
Words selected by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionaries. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
In this comedy, two Athenian couples and a troupe of actors become unwitting pawns in a squabble between a fairy king and queen.
