impeach
pronunciation
How to pronounce impeach in British English:
UK [ɪmˈpiːtʃ]
How to pronounce impeach in American English:
US [ɪmˈpiːtʃ]
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- Verb:
- challenge the honesty or credibility of; as of witnesses
- charge with an offense or misdemeanor
- charge with a crime or misdemeanor
- bring an accusation against; level a charge against
Word Origin
- impeach
- impeach: [14] Impeach has nothing to do with peaches. In fact it is closely related to impede, and indeed originally meant ‘impede’ in English. Both verbs comes ultimately from Latin pēs ‘foot’. Impede [17] goes back to Latin impedīre, a compound verb based on pēs which originally meant literally ‘tie the feet together’. Impeach, on the other hand, comes via Old French empecher (ancestor of modern French empêcher) from late Latin impedicāre ‘fetter, entangle, ensnare’, a compound verb based on the noun pedica ‘fetter’, which itself came from the same base as pēs.Its original meaning ‘impede, prevent’ survived in English until the late 17th century (‘a Ditch of sufficient breadth, and depth, to impeach the Assaults of an Enemy’, William Leybourn. Cursus Mathematicus 1690). Its use for ‘charge, accuse’ arose in the 14th century from an erroneous association with Latin impetere ‘attack, accuse’ (source of English impetuous).=> foot, impede, pedal
- impeach (v.)
- late 14c., "to impede, hinder, prevent," from Anglo-French empecher, Old French empeechier "hinder" (12c., Modern French empêcher), from Late Latin impedicare "to fetter, catch, entangle," from assimilated form of in- "into, in" (see in- (2)) + Latin pedica "shackle," from pes (genitive pedis) "foot," from PIE root *ped- (1) "a foot" (see foot (n.)). Sense of "accuse a public officer of misconduct" first recorded 1560s, perhaps via confusion with Latin impetere "attack, accuse." Related: Impeached; impeaching.
Example
- 1. The opposition lacks the numbers in parliament to impeach mr zardari .
- 2. Not long ago he pledged to impeach mr saakashvili in parliament .
- 3. Seward stood by johnson despite congress 's work to impeach the president for mismanagement .
- 4. In the week before our summit they had tried to impeach him in the duma .
- 5. Meetings will feature a short film called " how to impeach a president " .