IMPEACHMENT

impeachment

(noun) a formal document charging a public official with misconduct in office

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

impeachment (countable and uncountable, plural impeachments)

(countable) The act of calling into question or challenging the accuracy or propriety of something.

Synonyms: deprecation, depreciation, discrediting, disparagement

(countable, law) 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.

(countable, law, Britain) An accusation that a person has committed a crime against the state, such as treason.

(uncountable) The state of being impeached.

(uncountable, archaic) Hindrance; impediment; obstruction.

Source: Wiktionary


Im*peach"ment, n. Etym: [Cf. F. empêchement.]

Definition: The act of impeaching, or the state of being impeached; as: (a) Hindrance; impediment; obstruction. [Obs.] Willing to march on to Calais, Without impeachment. Shak.

(b) A calling to account; arraignment; especially, of a public officer for maladministration. The consequence of Coriolanus' impeachment had like to have been fatal to their state. Swift.

(c) A calling in question as to purity of motives, rectitude of conduct, credibility, etc.; accusation; reproach; as, an impeachment of motives. Shak.

Note: In England, it is the privilege or right of the House of Commons to impeach, and the right of the House of Lords to try and determine impeachments. In the United States, it is the right of the House of Representatives to impeach, and of the Senate to try and determine impeachments. Articles of impeachment. See under Article.

– Impeachment of waste (Law), restraint from, or accountability for, injury; also, a suit for damages for injury. Abbott.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

26 November 2024

TRANSPOSITION

(noun) (music) playing in a different key from the key intended; moving the pitch of a piece of music upwards or downwards


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Coffee Trivia

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