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appellate

adjective

Simple meaning

That can be appealed to.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhpehlit

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

əˈpɛlɪt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. That can be (legally) appealed to, especially of a court that hears appeals of decisions by a lower court.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

This meaning: That can be (legally) appealed to, especially of a court that hears appeals of decisions by a lower court.

Used this way, appellate is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Law/legal
  • Government/politics
  • Academic writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Nearby words

  • appellant , a specialist term, precise but narrower

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use appellate

  • “The lawyer prepared for the long appellate process in court.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

appellate courtappellate jurisdictionappellate divisionappellate bodyappellate procedureappellate tribunalappellate authorityappellate judges

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • appellate courtnounCompound term

    A court whose jurisdiction is to review decisions of lower courts or agencies.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: that can be (legally) appealed to

appellantTechnical

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.