Richard Brookhiser David Burnham Jack H. Friedenthal et al. 
Does impeach mean "to remove from office"?: Usage Guide
Testimonial evidence indicates that references to (and calls for) "impeaching" a public official are commonly understood to refer not simply to charging that official with misconduct "before a competent tribunal," but to actually removing the official from office. The interpretation is understandable if not legally accurate, since removal from office is typically the goal of impeachment, and there seems to be little doubt that the "remove" sense is what many people have in mind when they think or talk about impeaching a president, governor, judge, or other official. But clear examples of impeach being used to mean "remove" in published sources are rarely seen (in many contexts, the meaning is ambiguous), and when such use does occur, it is likely to be cited as an error.
Synonyms
Examples of impeach in a Sentence
Hogan Gore, Austin American-Statesman, 22 Nov. 2024
He was impeached over his actions on Jan. 6 and faces criminal charges at both the state level in Georgia and at the federal level for trying to overturn the 2020 election.
—Zac Anderson, USA TODAY, 20 Nov. 2024
Days later, the House of Representatives impeached Trump.
—Paul Rogers, The Mercury News, 5 Nov. 2024
Upton, who left Congress in 2022, was one of a handful of Republicans who voted to impeach Trump the year before inciting the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
—Arpan Lobo, Detroit Free Press, 5 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for impeach 
Dictionary Entries Near impeach
Cite this Entry
“Impeach.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impeach. Accessed 29 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
impeach
transitive verb
Note: Impeachment is the first step in removing an officer from office. The president, vice president, and other federal officers (as judges) may be impeached by the House of Representatives. (Members of Congress themselves are not removed by being impeached and tried, but rather are expelled by a two-thirds majority vote in the member's house.) The House draws up articles of impeachment that itemize the charges and their factual bases. The articles of impeachment, once approved by a simple majority of the House members, are then submitted to the Senate, thereby impeaching the officer. The Senate then holds a trial, at the conclusion of which each member votes for or against conviction on each article of impeachment. Two-thirds of the Senate members present must vote in favor of conviction. Once convicted, the officer can be removed from office. Although the Constitution specifies that an officer is to be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, impeachment can also occur for misconduct that is not necessarily criminal (as violation of the Constitution). Because impeachment is the first step taken to remove an officer from office, impeach is often used in general contexts to refer to the removal itself, but that is not its specific legal meaning. An officer generally cannot be impeached for acts done prior to taking office.
W. R. LaFave and A. W. Scott, Jr.Note: A witness may be impeached by character evidence or circumstantial evidence relating to the credibility of the witness, and especially on the grounds of prior convictions, prior inconsistent statements, contradiction by other evidence, and the witness's reputation for truth, prior acts of misconduct, and partiality.
Transitive verb
Anglo-French empecher, from Old French empeechier to hinder, from Late Latin impedicare to fetter, from Latin in- + pedica fetter, from ped-, pes foot
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