impeach
verb
Simple meaning
Bring an accusation against.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihmpeechSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪmˈpitʃ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Bring an accusation against; level a charge against
To bring a legal proceeding against a public official.
Charge (a public official) with an offense or misdemeanor committed while in office
To charge with impropriety; to discredit; to call into question.
law
To demonstrate in court that a testimony under oath contradicts another testimony from the same person, usually one taken during deposition.
To hinder, impede, or prevent.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Bring an accusation against; level a charge against
Used this way, impeach is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use impeach
- “The lawyers tried to impeach the credibility of the witnesses.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A formal document charging a public official with misconduct in office.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: bring an accusation against
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.