Other forms: appeals, appealed, appealing
An appeal is asking a higher court to overturn a decision you believe is wrong. The verdict comes down, the lawyers file an appeal, and a bigger court looks at the whole case again, sometimes years later.
Outside the courtroom, an appeal is a public request for help or money: a flood appeal, an appeal for witnesses, a hospital appealing for blood donors. The third meaning is attraction — the appeal of a small town, a film with wide appeal — and as a verb it takes TO: it doesn't appeal to me, the idea appealed to her at once. Keep the prepositions straight: you appeal AGAINST a sentence in British English while Americans simply appeal a sentence, you appeal TO a court or a person, and you appeal FOR money or for calm. Appealing means attractive, so unappealing food is food you would rather not eat.
1nounlawA request to a higher court to change a decision made by a lower one.
“The conviction was overturned on appeal.”
2verbaskTo ask a higher court to change a decision.
“She appealed against the sentence and won.”
3nounmoneyA public request for money, help or information.
“The charity launched an appeal for winter coats.”
4verburgentTo make an urgent public request.
“Police appealed for anyone who saw the car to come forward.”
5verbattractiveTo be attractive or interesting to someone.
“Camping has never appealed to me.”
6nounqualityThe quality of being attractive or interesting.
“The show's appeal is that anyone can join in.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
appeal is a formal request.
Appeal goes back through Middle English apel to Old French apel, 'a call', from Latin appellō, 'to address, to call by name', built from ad-, 'to', and pellō, 'to drive or push'. So an appeal is a calling out: the losing side calls up to a higher court, the charity calls out to the public. In Middle English the word also covered a formal accusation in court, and even a challenge to trial by combat.
Old French
apel
Middle English
apel//appel
English, today
appeal
Built from
From Middle English apel//appel, from Old French apel. From Middle English apel, appel (“formal accusation brought in court; a challenge to trial by combat; an appeal to a higher court or authority; plea (for mercy, protection, etc.); pealing (of bells)”)apeel, apele, appele, appelle, pele, from Old French apel (“a call”) (modern French appel (“a call; an appeal”)), from apeler (“to call; to call out”), from Latin appello#Etymology_2_2 (“to address as, call by name; to drive, move to; to land or put ashore”), alternative form adpello, from ad- (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₂éd (“at; to”)) + pello (“to drive, impel, push; to hurl, propel; to banish, expel; to eject, thrust out”) + -o, ultimately from pelh₂- (“to approach”), from pel- (“to beat; to drive; to push”). a doublet of appel.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA