impeachment

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Hindrance; impediment; obstruction.
• noun A calling in question; accusation of wrong or error; disparagement: as, an impeachment of one's motives or conduct, or of the credibility of a witness.
• noun A calling to account; arraignment; the act of charging with a crime or misdemeanor; specifically, the exhibition of charges of mal-administration against a high public officer before a competent tribunal.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun obsolete Hindrance; impediment; obstruction.
• noun A calling to account; arraignment; especially, of a public officer for maladministration.
• noun A calling in question as to purity of motives, rectitude of conduct, credibility, etc.; accusation; reproach.
• noun See under Article.
• noun (Law) restraint from, or accountability for, injury; also, a suit for damages for injury.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The act of impeaching a public official, either elected or appointed, before a tribunal charged with determining the facts of the matter
• noun the state of being impeached
• noun a demonstration, in a court of law, or before other finder of fact, that a witness was ingenious before and therefore is less likely to tell the truth now

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a formal document charging a public official with misconduct in office