what do you mean by "Impeachment"?

We have heard this a lot; “Impeach Trump”, so by that what do you mean?

None of those choices is correct, except for “something else”. Impeachment is trial in the Senate.

Pence, in a decidedly un-Christlike manner, punching the fat orange buffoon in the mouth on national television.

Imbibing peaches. Peach juice, Peach schnapps, peach smoothies etc.

I answered the third option, assuming the Senate trial was covered under “then removed.” In common parlance, I assume most people either mean 1 or 3, the end result being removal from office. I know what it actually means, given the impeachments of Johnson and Clinton, but, in my experience, “impeachment” typically serves as shorthand for the impeachment proceedings and removal from office.

By itself, I take the word literally. In context, the surrounding words guide the interpretation.

But if we have to stick to single words in isolation, I discern a significant​ difference between “impeachment” and “impeached”.

No, in the United States, impeachment is the hearing of charges in the House of Representatives and passing a motion by a simple majority. Trial in the Senate is a separate process.

I know that technically impeaching somebody just means conducting a hearing to decide if they should be removed from office. But I often use the word in its more colloquial sense to mean removing the person from office. So you can be impeached without being impeached.

And this use of a word to mean something that it does not mean doesn’t seem confusing to you?

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

–Lewis Carroll

While the impeachment trial is held by the U.S. Senate, it’s the U.S. House which decides if there is to be an impeachment. The House’s action is the impeachment. If the House finds for impeachment, the Senate then decides whether or not a President is to be removed from office.

The U.S. House would operate as a Grand Jury, and the U.S. Senate would be the Petite Jury.

The United States Constitution provides that the House of Representatives “shall have the sole Power of Impeachment” (Article I, section 2) and that “the Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments … [but] no person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two-thirds of the Members present” (Article I, section 3). The president, vice president, and all civil officers of the United States are subject to impeachment.

https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Senate_Impeachment_Role.htm

It’s the process of putting pits into peaches isn’t it?

I usually use this definition.

I know that impeachment refers just to the process of holding hearings to determine if the President should be removed (although I’m hazy on all the details. Simple majority in the House, 2/3 in the Senate, something something?). I try to be conscientious about using the term as accurately as I can, given my lack of legal expertise.

It’s been my experience that when someone uses the term “impeach”, it’s usually pretty clear from context what they actually mean. If they mean “the President is removed from office”, I accept that they are simply using the term in its colloquial sense and not its strict technical sense, and I continue with the conversation. Because I am not a dick.

And I fucking hate peaches. Not too fond of mint, either.

I don’t have a problem with that usage. If the usage isn’t understood in context it’s easy to clarify. It’s along the lines of calling a whale a fish or saying Columbus discovered America.

It kinda depends. If by “impeachment” you mean “the process”, then “Hearing in the House” works. If you mean as an event, then it’s only after an affirmative vote is taken in The House. But if I were trying to communicate accurately, I’d refer to “impeachment hearings” for the former and save “impeachment” for the latter.

So, I’m picking “something else”. It’s ironic that the OP is trying to pin down a definition but doesn’t actually offer the actual, precise definition. Still, “remove from office” is at 20%, so perhaps the OP will at least learn something from this process: No, most of us don’t mean “remove from office” when we use that term, and certainly not everyone.

Depends on the context. I can say “Trump should be impeached,” meaning he should have a majority of the House of Representatives accuse him of one or more counts of high crimes or misdemeanors, followed by a trial in the Senate with a 2/3 majority voting for conviction, followed by his removal from office.

OR

I can say, “Remember when Bill Clinton was impeached,” and mean that he was formally accused by the House, but 2/3 of the Senate did not vote to convict him and he served out his entire second term."

If there’s any confusion on the other person’s part, I’m happy to clarify.

It means what the Constitution says it means.

Not really. It’s not like the word gets used all that often in normal conversation. And when it does, it’s usually easy to determine from the context which meaning is intended.

That might have been true a few months ago. :smiley:

And we’re down to 14% for “removed from office”.

I picked the fourth option. I was taught that it means charging someone who holds a high office with a crime for which they are tried by the Senate.

That’s what I mean when I say “impeach the president.” I’m not sure Trump has done anything impeachable yet, but he sure has skirted the possible. Considering what he has managed to do so far, I think it’s pretty likely that before four years are over, he will have committed an impeachable crime.

There’s another way to use “impeach,” and it means to demonstrate that a sworn witness, or someone else who has testified under oath, has lied.

So Clinton was impeached in more than one sense.

When a statement is referred to as “unimpeachable,” it means that it is unable to be shown false.