impeachment

/ɪmˈpiːt͡ʃ.mənt/

Etymology

From Middle English empechement (“hindrance, impediment, obstacle, obstruction; legal accusation or charge; act of calling into question or discrediting; challenge to a claim or right”), and thence either: * from Middle English empechen, empeschen, empesche, enpechen, impechen (“to cause to get stuck; of a ship: to run aground; to block, obstruct; to hinder, impede; to prevent; to interfere with, harm; to criticize, disparage; to bring charges against; to formally accuse of treason or another high crime”) (from Anglo-Norman empecher, Old French empechier, empeechier) + -ment (suffix forming action nouns, concrete nouns, and nouns indicating a result or a condition or state); or * from Old French empechement, empeechement, empeschement (“obstacle”) (modern French empêchement (“impediment, o

impeachment means The act of calling into question or challenging the accuracy or propriety of something. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 71 out of 100.

Why this word is great

IMPEACHMENT — [Noun] The formal process of charging a public official with misconduct before a competent tribunal. From Middle English empechement, from Old French empechement ("hindrance, obstacle"), from empecher ("to hinder, impede"), from Late Latin impedicāre ("to fetter, entangle"), from Latin in- ("in") + pedica ("fetter, snare"), from pēs, ped- ("foot"). Unlike indictment, a criminal charge for a private citizen, or censure, a reprimand lacking the force of removal, impeachment is a political snare laid for the feet of power. It is the dry rustle of parchment charges in a hushed chamber, the gravelly recitation of high crimes, and the public figure suspended between accusation and judgment—a cumbersome, creaking mechanism by which a republic attempts to correct its course, proving that the only thing more difficult than wielding authority is legally unmaking it.

noun

The act of calling into question or challenging the accuracy or propriety of something.“[…] Nevertheleſs there was no ſo much care, labour, ſtudy, and diligence employed on our Party, by them, our ſelf, and other, for attaining your Grace's Purpoſe, but there was as much done by others for the lett and empeachment of the ſame; […]”
The act of calling into question or challenging the accuracy or propriety of something.; A demonstration in a court of law, or before another finder of fact, that a witness was ingenuine before, and is therefore less likely to tell the truth now.“It is sometimes intimated that testimony which is direct and positive cannot legally be rebutted and overturned by presumptions less high than those which are juris et de jure in the absence of impeachment of the credibility of the witnesses. We are not prepared to accept that proposition unqualifiedly.”
The act of calling into question or challenging the accuracy or propriety of something.; An accusation that a person has committed a crime against the state, such as treason.“He [William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford] is charged in the Articles of Impeachment with Contriving the Death of the King, and being at ſeveral Meetings and Conſults about the King's Death, and Hiring Perſons to kill the King; And are theſe no Overt Acts? [...] My Lords, another Exception that is taken, is, That there is no Indictment. I conceive that an Impeachment of the Houſe of Commons is mor”
The act of calling into question or challenging the accuracy or propriety of something.; The act of impeaching or charging a public official with misconduct, especially if serious, often with the aim of having the official dismissed from office.“The Boſton Gazette of March 7 contains articles of impeachment of high crimes and miſdemeanors againſt Peter Oliver, Eſq; Chief Juſtice of the Superior Court of Judicature, &c., over the Province of Maſſachuſets Bay, by the Houſe of Repreſentatives in General Court aſſembled, [...] [T]he Aſſembly perſiſted in their impeachment, which was carried, upon a diviſion, yeas 92, nays 8: [...]”
The state of being impeached.“And Don Diego Ordoñez answered, [...] ye of Zamora have received Vellido and harbored him within your walls. [...] And for this I impeach the people of Zamora, the great as well as the little, and living and the dead. [...] Don Arias Gonzalo replied, [...] But know that you have been ill advised in making this impeachment, for the manner is, whosoever impeacheth a council must do battle with five,”
Hindrance; impediment; obstruction.“Turne thee back, / And tell thy King, I doe not ſeeke him now, / But could be willing to march on to Callice, / Without impeachment: [...]”