impeachment

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im·peach

(ĭm-pēch′)

tr.v. im·peached, im·peach·ing, im·peach·es

a. To make an accusation against: impeach someone of a crime.

b. To bring formal charges against (a public official) for wrongdoing while in office.

2. To raise doubts about; discredit or disparage: impeach a witness's credibility; impeach someone's character.

[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′a·ble adj.

im·peach′a·bil′i·ty n.

im·peach′er n.

im·peach′ment n.

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. 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.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

impeachment

(ɪmˈpiːtʃmənt)

1. (Parliamentary Procedure) rare (in England) committal by the House of Commons, esp of a minister of the Crown, for trial by the House of Lords. The last instance occurred in 1805

2. (Law) (in the US) a proceeding brought against a federal government official

3. (Law) an accusation or charge

4. obsolete discredit; reproach

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

im•peach•ment

(ɪmˈpitʃ mənt)

n.

1. the act of impeaching; condition of being impeached.

2. (in the U.S. Congress or a state legislature) the presentation of charges against a public official by the lower house, with trial to be before the upper house.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Anglo-French]

impeachment

The charging of a public official before a quasipolitical body with having committed an offense while in office.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

impeachment - a formal document charging a public official with misconduct in office

legal document, legal instrument, official document, instrument - (law) a document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right

impeachment

noun accusation, prosecution, indictment, arraignment Unconstitutional actions would be grounds for impeachment.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

مُحاكَمَة أو إتهام رئيس الجمهوريَّه

obvinění ze zločinu

rigsretssag

Anklage

vád alá helyezés

ákæra, lögsókn

incriminazione

forræderisak riksrett

obvinenie zo zločinu

suçlama

控告检举

impeachment

[ɪmˈpiːtʃmənt]

A. N (= accusation) → acusación f de prevaricación; (= trial) → proceso m por prevaricación; [of president] → proceso m de destitución

B. CPD impeachment hearing N → juicio m por destitución
impeachment proceedings NPL → proceso m de destitución

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

impeachment

[ɪmˈpiːtʃmənt] n [president] → procédure f de l'impeachment, mise f en cause de la responsabilité pénale

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

impeachment

(Jur: = accusation) → Anklage f (wegen eines Amtsvergehens); (US: of president) → Amtsenthebungsverfahren nt, → Impeachment nt

(= questioning) (of sb’s character, motives) → Infragestellung f, → Anzweiflung f; (of testimony also) → Anfechtung f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

impeachment

[ɪmˈpiːtʃmənt] n (Law) → impeachment m inv

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

impeach

(imˈpiːtʃ) verb

to accuse of a crime, especially to accuse a person who works for the government of a crime against the State.

imˈpeachment noun

References in classic literature ?

It is not disputed that the power of originating the inquiry, or, in other words, of preferring the impeachment, ought to be lodged in the hands of one branch of the legislative body.

THE remaining powers which the plan of the convention allots to the Senate, in a distinct capacity, are comprised in their participation with the executive in the appointment to offices, and in their judicial character as a court for the trial of impeachments. As in the business of appointments the executive will be the principal agent, the provisions relating to it will most properly be discussed in the examination of that department.

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The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Judgment in cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

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This lord, in conjunction with Flimnap the high-treasurer, whose enmity against you is notorious on account of his lady, Limtoc the general, Lalcon the chamberlain, and Balmuff the grand justiciary, have prepared articles of impeachment against you, for treason and other capital crimes."

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Burke and other men saw the corruption and misery without realizing the excuses for it and on the return of Hastings to England in 1786 they secured his impeachment. For nine years Burke, Sheridan, and Fox conducted the prosecution, vying with one another in brilliant speeches, and Burke especially distinguished himself by the warmth of sympathetic imagination with which he impressed on his audiences the situation and sufferings of a far-distant and alien race.

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A blush on the countenance of Monsieur the Marquis was no impeachment of his high breeding; it was not from within; it was occasioned by an external circumstance beyond his control--the setting sun.

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He is a gentleman of strict conscience, disdainful of all littleness and meanness and ready on the shortest notice to die any death you may please to mention rather than give occasion for the least impeachment of his integrity.

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It was pointed out to the Prince, in impeachment of this decree, that the victory had been in fact won by the Disinherited Knight, who, in the course of the day, had overcome six champions with his own hand, and who had finally unhorsed and struck down the leader of the opposite party.

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"One would think you expected to find in them the answer to the riddle of the universe," she said; and I denied the impeachment only by replying that if I had to choose between that precious solution and a bundle of Jeffrey Aspern's letters I knew indeed which would appear to me the greater boon.

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No part of the arrangement, according to some, is more inadmissible than the trial of impeachments by the Senate, which is alternately a member both of the legislative and executive departments, when this power so evidently belonged to the judiciary department.

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Then come impeachments and judgments and trials of one another.

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