appeal

/əˈpil/

/əˈpil/

Other forms: appealed; appeals; appealing

Appeal means "to ask, or address." If you appeal to someone's better nature, you're asking them for mercy. If a shirt doesn't appeal to you, you could also say it doesn't "speak" to you, or more simply, you don't like it.

Appeal can also be used as a noun to refer to a request, as in "his parents ignored his appeal for a later curfew," or to refer to something's attractiveness or desirability, as in "we all agreed on the appeal of a tropical vacation." In judicial contexts, appeal means "to call upon a higher court to review a lower court's decision." If a lawyer appeals a court's conviction of her client, she's asking a higher court to throw the decision out. This word descends from the Latin appellare, "to address, call upon."

Definitions of appeal

1. noun

   earnest or urgent request
   “an appeal for help”

   “an appeal to the public to keep calm”

   synonyms: entreaty, prayer

   types:

   adjuration

   a solemn and earnest appeal to someone to do something

   demagoguery, demagogy

   impassioned appeals to the prejudices and emotions of the populace

   plea, supplication

   a humble request for help from someone in authority

   solicitation

   an entreaty addressed to someone of superior status

   suit

   a petition or appeal made to a person of superior status or rank

   courting, courtship, suit, wooing

   a man's courting of a woman; seeking the affections of a woman (usually with the hope of marriage)

   flag waving, jingoism

   an appeal intended to arouse patriotic emotions

   beggary, begging, mendicancy

   a solicitation for money or food (especially in the street by an apparently penniless person)

   touch

   the act of soliciting money (as a gift or loan)

   importunity, urgency, urging

   insistent solicitation and entreaty

   bundling

   a onetime custom during courtship of unmarried couples occupying the same bed without undressing

   type of:

   asking, request

   the verbal act of requesting
2. noun

   request for a sum of money
   “an appeal to raise money for starving children”

   synonyms: collection, ingathering, solicitation

   types:

   whip-round

   (British) solicitation of money usually for a benevolent purpose

   type of:

   petition, postulation, request

   a formal message requesting something that is submitted to an authority
3. verb

   request earnestly (something from somebody); ask for aid or protection
   “appeal to somebody for help”

   synonyms: invoke

   types:

   plead

   appeal or request earnestly

   call on, turn

   have recourse to or make an appeal or request for help or information to

   beg, implore, pray

   call upon in supplication; entreat

   adjure, beseech, bid, conjure, entreat, press

   ask for or request earnestly

   type of:

   bespeak, call for, quest, request

   express the need or desire for; ask for
4. noun

   (law) a legal proceeding in which the appellant resorts to a higher court for the purpose of obtaining a review of a lower court decision and a reversal of the lower court's judgment or the granting of a new trial
   “their appeal was denied in the superior court”

   type of:

   legal proceeding, proceeding, proceedings

   (law) the institution of a sequence of steps by which legal judgments are invoked
5. verb

   take a court case to a higher court for review
   “He was found guilty but appealed immediately”

   type of:

   challenge

   issue a challenge to
6. verb

   challenge (a decision)
   “She appealed the verdict”

   type of:

   challenge, take exception

   raise a formal objection in a court of law
7. verb

   cite as an authority; resort to
   “I appealed to the law of 1900”

   synonyms: invoke

   type of:

   advert, bring up, cite, mention, name, refer

   make reference to
8. noun

   attractiveness that interests or pleases or stimulates
   “his smile was part of his appeal to her”

   synonyms: appealingness, charm

   types:

   siren call, siren song

   the enticing appeal of something alluring but potentially dangerous

   winsomeness

   childlike charm or appeal

   type of:

   attractiveness

   sexual allure
9. verb

   be attractive to
   “The idea of a vacation appeals to me”

   synonyms: attract

   types:

   becharm, beguile, bewitch, captivate, capture, catch, charm, enamor, enamour, enchant, entrance, fascinate, trance

   attract; cause to be enamored

   beckon

   appear inviting

   hold

   hold the attention of

   work

   gratify and charm, usually in order to influence
10. noun

    (rhetoric) a method or mode of persuasion
    type of:

    persuasion, suasion

    the act of persuading (or attempting to persuade); communication intended to induce belief or action