appealing

1. 1
   adjective

   Attractive or interesting in a way that draws a positive response from people.

   The job offer was appealing because of its flexible hours and short commute.

   Critics found the film's understated style surprisingly appealing.

   Similarattractive, tempting, enticing, inviting, charming

   Oppositeunappealing, unattractive, off-putting, uninviting

   Note

   An adjective that grew straight out of the verb: appeal plus -ing, the participle turned into a quality. The quickest way to tell it from the verb form is comparison. Something can be more appealing or the most appealing option, but a charity appealing for volunteers cannot be graded that way. As an adjective it works both before a noun (appealing theories) and after a linking verb (just as appealing was the manner…).

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act of formally requesting that a decision be reconsidered or reversed.

   The appealing of the verdict took the defense nearly a year to complete.

   His persistent appealing eventually persuaded the board to reconsider its vote.

   Note

   A verbal noun that, unusually, takes a plural. Heros von Borcke's Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence (1866) sets a captive's "bitter tears and pathetic appealings" against his sense of duty. Those are repeated personal entreaties, not a court filing. The -ing noun puts weight on the act of pleading itself, and its plural stresses how often the plea is made.

3. 3
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of appeal.

   The charity is appealing for volunteers ahead of the holidays.

   Fans kept appealing to the manager to stay for another season.

   Note

   The form behind the progressive and the gerund, and it keeps the verb's prepositions. In law it takes against for the ruling and to for the higher court, or it goes straight to its object: appealing the decision. Outside the courtroom, appealing to someone means calling on them to decide or vindicate. Watch the shared string: "appealing to voters" can be a plea, or the adjective of attraction.

   The defense is appealing against the verdict to the state supreme court.

   Her lawyers are appealing the decision on procedural grounds.

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