impeachment

Noun

impeachment (countable and uncountable, plural impeachments)

1. (countable) 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; […]1530 February, Stephen Gardiner, Edward Foxe, “XXXII. A Letter from Gardiner and Fox, about Their Proceedings at Cambridg. An Original.”, in Gilbert Burnet, The History of the Reformation of the...
   • The leaſt may thinke upon Fabius Maximus, who with an honourable obſtinacy purſued the courſe of his owne platforme, notwithſtanding a thouſand empeachments; and although ſlowly, with much murmuring, yet effectually with more reputation, atchieved his politicke purpoſe: [...]1588, G[abriel] H[arvey], “The Fourth Letter. To the Same Favourable or Indifferent Reader.”, in J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Fovre Letters, and Certaine Sonnets, […] (Miscellaneous Tracts Temp....

   Synonyms:

   deprecation, depreciation, discrediting, disparagement

   1. (countable) 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...1903 November 16, Francis T. Nicholls, Chief Justice, “Barras et al. v. Barras”, in T. H. Thorpe, editor, Louisiana Reports: Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Louisiana at Term...
   2. (UK, countable) 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...1680 December 4, “The Fifth Day”, in The Tryal of William Viscount Stafford for High Treason, […], Dublin: Reprinted by Jos[eph] Ray, […], and are to be sold by S. Helsham, Joh. North, Jos[eph] Howes...
      • Backed by the Treasurer's bitterest enemies he brought charges against Danby. Impeachment followed. There was fresh uproar in the House.1923, Georgette Heyer, “The Revenge”, in The Great Roxhythe, Boston, Mass.: Small, Maynard and Company, →OCLC, page 325
   3. (US, countable) 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...1774 May, “American Affairs”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym; Edward Cave], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, volume XLIV, London: Printed […], for D[avid] Henry, and sold by...
      • The awful diſcretion, which a court of impeachments muſt neceſſarily have, to doom to honour or to infamy the moſt confidential and the moſt diſtinguiſhed characters of the community, forbids the commitment of the truſt to a ſmall number of perſons.1788, Publius [pseudonym; Alexander Hamilton], “Number LXV. A Further View of the Constitution of the Senate, in Relation to Its Capacity as a Court for the Trial of Impeachments.”, in The...
2. (uncountable) 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...1918, Robert Southey, “The Siege of Zamora”, in William Patten, editor, Heroes and Heroines of Chivalry (The Junior Classics; IV), New York, N.Y.: P[eter] F[enelon] Collier & Son Corporation, →OCLC...
3. (archaic, uncountable) 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: [...]1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
   • Now Hazael, king of Syria, fought against the Israelites, and their king Jehu, and spoiled the eastern parts of the country beyond Jordan, [...] and this without impeachment from Jehu, who made no haste to defend the country when it was under this distress: [...]1732, Flavius Josephus, translated by William Whiston, A Compleat Collection of the Genuine Works of Flavius Josephus Faithfully Translated from the Original Greek. […], London: Printed and sold by...