This week’s theme
Words from politics

This week’s words
malfeasance
nepotism
emolument
collusion
impeach


This week’s comments
AWADmail 835

Next week’s theme
Verbs

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(im-PEECH)

MEANING:

verb tr.:
1. To charge a public official with misconduct in office.
2. To challenge the credibility of someone.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Anglo-Norman empecher (to ensnare), from Latin impedicare (to catch or entangle), from pedica (fetter), from pes/ped (foot). Earliest documented use: 1380.

NOTES:

When someone is impeached, he has his foot caught in the law, literally speaking. From being on a pedestal (literally, foot of a stall) to getting impeached can be a short journey, but sometimes it takes a long time. Let the law do its job! Patience is rewarded.

USAGE:

“That’s why Nixon would have been impeached, convicted, and then thrown out of the office, if he hadn’t cut a deal to save his neck.”
Kerry Bryant; A House Once Stolen; BookBaby; 2015.

“And you had no witness or evidence to impeach this boy’s statement, did you?”
James Patterson; 14th Deadly Sin; Little, Brown and Co.; 2015.

See more usage examples of impeach in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: