impeach
verb /ɪmˈpiːtʃ/
/ɪmˈpiːtʃ/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they impeach | /ɪmˈpiːtʃ/ /ɪmˈpiːtʃ/ |
| he / she / it impeaches | /ɪmˈpiːtʃɪz/ /ɪmˈpiːtʃɪz/ |
| past simple impeached | /ɪmˈpiːtʃt/ /ɪmˈpiːtʃt/ |
| past participle impeached | /ɪmˈpiːtʃt/ /ɪmˈpiːtʃt/ |
| -ing form impeaching | /ɪmˈpiːtʃɪŋ/ /ɪmˈpiːtʃɪŋ/ |
- impeach somebody (for something) (of a court or other official body, especially in the US) to charge an important public figure with a serious crime
- The President was impeached by Congress for lying.
CultureIn the US impeachment is the procedure by which a public official, including the President, is charged with acting against the law and may be forced to leave their job. President Richard Nixon resigned after the House Judiciary Committee recommended that he should be impeached for the crime of Watergate. Only two presidents have been impeached. The first was Andrew Johnson in 1868, who remained as President because the US Senate decided by one vote that he should do so. The second was Bill Clinton in 1999, who was then judged not guilty. - impeach something (formal) to raise doubts about something synonym question
- to impeach somebody’s motives
Word Originlate Middle English (also in the sense ‘hinder, prevent’; earlier as empeche): from Old French empecher ‘impede’, from late Latin impedicare ‘catch, entangle’ (based on pedica ‘a fetter’, from pes, ped- ‘foot’). Compare with impede.