HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY
To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.
Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.
THE USAGE PANEL
The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP
The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG
The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.
INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?
Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com
n. 1. An earnest or urgent request, entreaty, or supplication. 2. A resort to a higher authority or greater power, as for sanction, corroboration, or a decision: an appeal to reason; an appeal to her listener's sympathy. 3. Law a. A higher court's review of the correctness of a decision by a lower court. b. A case so reviewed. c. A request for a higher court to review the decision of a lower court. 4. The power of attracting or of arousing interest: a city with special appeal for museumgoers. v. ap·pealed, ap·peal·ing, ap·peals v.intr. 1. To make an earnest or urgent request, as for help. 2. To have recourse, as for corroboration; resort: I appeal to your sense of justice. 3. Law To make or request an appeal. 4. To be attractive or interesting: The idea didn't appeal to me. v.tr. Idiom: Law To request for an appeal of (a case) to a higher court for rehearing. on appeal In the process of being appealed; while being appealed. [Middle English apel, from Old French, from apeler, to appeal, from Latin appellāre, to entreat; see pel-5 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] ap·peal′a·bili·ty n. ap·peala·ble adj. ap·pealer n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
