impeach

English

Alternative forms

• empeach (obsolete)

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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpiːt͡ʃ/
• Rhymes: -iːtʃ

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Verb

impeach (third-person singular simple present impeaches, present participle impeaching, simple past and past participle impeached)

1. To hinder, impede, or prevent.
   • 1612, John Davies, Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued:

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

   • 1655, James Howell, “To my Father”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume (please specify the page), London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], →OCLC:

     I was afraid the same defluxion of Salt Rheum which fell from my Temples into my Throat in Oxford, and distilling upon the Uvula, impeached my Utterance a little to this Day

2. 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.

3. To charge with impropriety; to discredit; to call into question.
4. (law) To demonstrate in court that a testimony under oath contradicts another testimony from the same person, usually one taken during deposition.

Derived terms

• disimpeach
• impeachable
• impeacher
• impeachment
• impeachy

Translations

to hinder

Bulgarian: препятствам (bg) (prepjatstvam), забавям (bg) (zabavjam) Chinese: Mandarin: 阻礙 / 阻碍 (zh) (zǔ'ài), 阻止 (zh) (zǔzhǐ) Finnish: estää (fi) French: empêcher (fr), entraver (fr) German: verhindern (de) Japanese: 阻止する (そしする, soshi suru), 遅滞させる (ちたいさせる, chitai saseru), 妨害する (ぼうがいする, bōgai suru), 妨げる (ja) (さまたげる, samatageru) Kazakh: күрмеу (kürmeu) Russian: препя́тствовать (ru) impf (prepjátstvovatʹ), меша́ть (ru) impf (mešátʹ) Turkish: mani olmak (tr), önlemek (tr)

to bring legal proceeding against public official

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Belarusian: абвінава́чваць impf (abvinaváčvacʹ), абвінава́ціць pf (abvinavácicʹ) Bulgarian: обвинявам (bg) (obvinjavam) Chinese: Mandarin: 彈劾 / 弹劾 (zh) (tánhé) Dutch: please add this translation if you can Esperanto: akuzi Finnish: syyttää virkarikoksesta, nostaa virkasyyte German: anklagen (de) Hebrew: התחיל תהליך הדחה m (hitkhíl tahalíkh hadakhá) Hungarian: bevádol (hu), vád alá helyez Icelandic: kæra (is) Japanese: 弾劾する (だんがいする, dangai suru) Kazakh: импичмент жариялау (impiçment jariälau) Korean: 탄핵 (ko) (tanhaek) Portuguese: impedir (pt), impugnar (pt), impichar (pt) (Brazil) Romanian: please add this translation if you can Russian: обвиня́ть (ru) impf (obvinjátʹ), предъявля́ть обвине́ние impf (predʺjavljátʹ obvinénije) Thai: please add this translation if you can Turkish: itham etmek (tr), suçlamak (tr) Vietnamese: luận tội (vi), đàn hặc (vi)

to charge with impropriety

Bulgarian: дискредитирам (bg) (diskreditiram) Chinese: Mandarin: 控告 (zh) (kònggào), 質疑 / 质疑 (zh) (zhìyí) Esperanto: akuzi Finnish: kyseenalaistaa (fi) French: discréditer (fr) German: in Verruf bringen, schlechtmachen (de) Japanese: 疑う (ja) (うたがう, utagau) Russian: обвиня́ть (ru) impf (obvinjátʹ), осужда́ть (ru) impf (osuždátʹ) Vietnamese: gièm pha (vi), nói xấu (vi), bôi nhọ (vi), chê trách (vi)

to demonstrate a contradiction

German: die Glaubwürdigkeit anzweifeln

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Woiwurrung: (please verify) ngat-toonan

Anagrams

• aphemic, Champie