appeal

Formsappeals, appealing, appealed

Pluralappeals (some meanings)

1. 1
   be attractiveverbfigurativelyintransitive

   To be attractive or interesting to someone.

   Like a melody that pulls a listener in.

   Simple, quiet vacations appeal to people who work stressful jobs.

   The new design appealed to younger buyers right away.

   UsageThe attractive thing is the subject: the idea appeals to me (not incorrect: it appeals me).

   Similarattract, interest, please

   Oppositerepel

   Note

   The American novelist Winston Churchill's The Celebrity (1897) has a proposition whose humor "appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor" than the narrator expected. The attractive thing is the subject and the person follows to: the idea appeals to me, never it appeals me. Unlike asking for help, nobody is asking for anything here.

2. 2
   attractivenessnounfigurativelyuncountable

   The power of something or someone to attract, interest, or please people.

   Like the draw of a warm fire on a cold night.

   The brand built its appeal around comfort and low prices.

   Much of the city's appeal lies in its quiet old streets.

   UsageCommon phrases: wide appeal, mass appeal, sex appeal. Whoever is attracted follows to or comes first: appeal to voters, viewer appeal.

   Similarattraction, charm, allure, attractiveness

3. 3
   legal challengenouncountable

   A request to a higher court to review and overturn a lower court's decision, or the case in which that request is heard.

   Like asking a referee's supervisor to review a disputed call.

   The company launched an appeal after losing the original trial.

   An appeal was filed on the grounds that key evidence had been ignored.

   UsageYou file an appeal and win or lose it. Set phrases: on appeal (overturned on appeal), right of appeal.

   Note

   Behind the courtroom sense is a simple picture: Old French apel meant "a call," from apeler "to call," so an appeal calls a case upward to a court with power over the first. Middle English already stretched the noun across a formal accusation, a challenge to combat, a plea for mercy and even the pealing of bells.

4. 4
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To formally ask a higher court to review and overturn a decision of a lower court (in British use often 'appeal against' the decision).

   The defense will appeal the conviction next month.

   His lawyers appealed the sentence on procedural grounds.

   UsageAmerican English usually says appeal the decision; British English prefers appeal against it. The court follows to: appeal to the Supreme Court.

   Note

   The direct-object pattern, appeal the decision, began in American usage, while British English long preferred appeal against the decision. It has traveled since: Calla Wahlquist, writing in 2016 about a case in Victoria, reports that the Andrews government had appealed the original decision.

5. 5
   call for supportverbintransitive

   To call on someone for a favor, help, or support.

   Aid groups appeal to donors whenever a major disaster strikes.

   The mayor appealed to residents to conserve water during the drought.

   UsageAppeal to someone for help, or appeal to someone to do something: appealed to residents to save water.

   Similarplead, implore, beg

   Note

   Hugh Tredennick's 1954 translation of Plato's Apology has Socrates appeal to his listeners to clear their neighbors' minds. The usual patterns are appeal to someone for help and appeal to someone to do something, as when a mayor appeals to residents to conserve water. Aid groups and organizers appeal to the public in the same way.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A call to a person or an authority for a decision, help, or proof; an earnest entreaty.

   The charity's appeal raised thousands within a single weekend.

   His final appeal to the board went unanswered.

   UsageAn appeal for names what is wanted, to names who is asked: an appeal for calm, an appeal to the public.

   Similarplea, request, entreaty, petition

   Note

   The everyday sense stays closest to the word's root: Old French apel meant simply "a call," from apeler, "to call." Behind it sits the idea of an authority to turn to. Bacon calls raised eyes and lifted hands an appeal to the Deity, and Dryden warns that among equals there is no last appeal.

7. 7
   dispute a decisionverbtransitive or intransitive

   To make a formal request that an authority, such as an organization or official, change or overturn a decision, for example a fine, a ban, or a refusal.

   Applicants who are denied a permit can appeal to the city's zoning board within 30 days.

   Her family appealed the insurance company's refusal to cover the surgery.

   UsageYou appeal to the body that decides, or appeal the decision itself: appeal to the board, appeal the fine.

   Similarchallenge, contest

   Note

   The same move as appealing to a higher court, made outside the courts: to a zoning board, an insurer or a sports league. Two patterns work. You appeal to the body that decides, or you appeal the decision itself, as in appeal the fine or appeal the ban. The request itself is a formal request to an authority.

8. 8
   nouncountable

   A formal request to an organization or authority other than a court to review and change or overturn a decision.

   The league rejected the club's appeal and upheld the four-game suspension.

   The scholarship committee received dozens of appeals from students whose aid had been cut.

   UsageYou make an appeal to the body responsible for reviewing the decision, and it accepts or rejects the appeal.

   Similarchallenge, petition

9. 9
   argument from valuesnounrhetoriccountable

   The use of a principle, value, or quality as a means of persuasion.

   The speech leaned on an appeal to shared community values.

   Her closing line was a direct appeal to the jurors' sense of justice.

   UsageUsually an appeal to something used to persuade: an appeal to fear, an appeal to reason, an appeal to authority.

   Note

   Rhetoric's term for persuasion that works through something the audience already holds, such as reason, fear or shared values. The classical triad of ethos, pathos and logos names the appeals to credibility, emotion and reason. Unlike the plea for help, what follows to is a means of persuasion, not someone being asked for something.

10. 10
    call on for proofverbintransitive

    To call upon a person or an authority to confirm a statement, settle a disputed question, or defend one's rights; to entreat or invoke.

    The author appealed to the original records to support her claim.

    When critics doubt him, he will appeal to the founding documents.

    UsageUsually appeal to a source or authority: appeal to the records, appeal to history.

    Similarrefer, invoke

    Note

    Milton and Samuel Horsley both appeal to the Scriptures, calling the text in as a witness that settles a dispute. Middle English apelen already meant calling on an authority for a decision or for help.

11. 11
    legal rightnouncountable or uncountable

    A person's legal right to apply to a higher court for review of a decision.

    The statute guarantees an appeal to anyone convicted of a serious crime.

    Defendants convicted at trial have an appeal as of right to a higher court.

    UsageSet phrases: a right of appeal, an appeal as of right, and no appeal from a ruling.

    Note

    A right rather than an act: someone who has an appeal is entitled to make one, as in "I have an appeal against the lower court decision." Where the application itself is filed, won or lost, a right is granted, kept or given up, as in a plea deal.

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