Impeach

//ɪmˈpiːt͡ʃ// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To hinder, impede, or prevent.

    "These ungracious practices of his sons did impeach his journey to the Holy Land."

  2. 2
    bring an accusation against; level a charge against wordnet
  3. 3
    To bring a legal proceeding against a public official.

    "President Clinton was impeached by the House in November 1998, but since the Senate acquitted him, he was not removed from office."

  4. 4
    charge (a public official) with an offense or misdemeanor committed while in office wordnet
  5. 5
    To charge with impropriety; to discredit; to call into question.
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    challenge the honesty or veracity of wordnet
  2. 7
    To demonstrate in court that a testimony under oath contradicts another testimony from the same person, usually one taken during deposition.

Synonyms

All synonyms
accuseaccuseallegeanathematizeanathemizeanimadvert on

Example

More examples

"Many people wanted to impeach President Nixon."

Etymology

From Middle English empechen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman empecher, from Old French empeechier (“to hinder”), from Latin impedicāre (“to fetter”). Cognate with French empêcher (“to prevent”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.