impeach

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   charge (a public official) with an offense or misdemeanor committed while in office

   The President was impeached

2. 2
   verb

   challenge the honesty or veracity of

   the lawyers tried to impeach the credibility of the witnesses

3. 3
   verb

   To hinder, impede, or prevent.

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

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Impeach came through Old French empe(s)cher, “prevent,” from late Latin impedicare, “catch” or “entangle.” The Latin verb combined im-, here meaning “on,” with pedica “fetter,” a word derived from the Latin for “foot.” English once used impeach to mean “hinder” as well as “accuse” or “call into question.”

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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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary