appellate

appellate — adjective

1. describing a court, judge, or legal process whose role is to review a decision a

1.adjectiveC2
Definition

describing a court, judge, or legal process whose role is to review a decision already made by a lower court, so that the losing side has a chance to argue that the earlier ruling should be changed.

Example

The appellate court overturned the verdict after reviewing the trial transcript.

attributive: appellate + court

Judge Martinez served on the appellate bench in California for twelve years.

collocation: appellate bench / appellate judge

Common collocations
  • appellate court
  • appellate judge
  • appellate jurisdiction
  • appellate division
  • appellate brief
  • appellate review
  • appellate panel
Synonyms
  • appeals

    used the same way (appeals court / appeals judge); slightly more everyday in American English

  • reviewing

    broader; describes any body that re-examines a decision, not only courts

Antonyms
  • trial

    as in 'trial court' — the lower court that hears a case for the first time

  • original

    as in 'original jurisdiction' — the power to hear a case before any other court does

Grammar Patterns

appellate + noun (court, judge, jurisdiction, division)

Usage Note

Almost always used attributively (before a noun) and only in legal contexts. The noun it modifies names a court, judge, lawyer, document, or stage of the legal process — not the case itself. Distinguish from 'appealing', which is a separate adjective meaning 'attractive'.

Common Mistakes

The verdict was appellate.
The verdict is open to appeal.
'appellate' modifies the court or process, not the ruling itself.
Her dress is very appellate.
Her dress is very appealing.
'appellate' is a legal term, not a synonym of 'appealing'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All three words describe a court or body that re-examines an earlier decision, but they differ in formality and scope. 'Appellate' is the formal legal term used in statutes, court names, and law textbooks — for example, 'the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit' is also called the 'Ninth Circuit appellate court'. 'Appeals' is more everyday and works as a noun modifier in the same slots ('appeals court', 'appeals judge'); journalists usually prefer it. 'Reviewing' is broader and not limited to law: a 'reviewing body' can be a tribunal, a regulator, or even an academic committee. So write 'appellate jurisdiction' in a legal brief, 'appeals court' in a news headline, and 'reviewing committee' for a non-judicial board.

appellate ↗appealsreviewing

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • appellate court
  • appellate judge
  • appellate jurisdiction
  • appellate division
  • appellate review

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Borrowed into English in the early 1700s from Latin 'appellatus', the past participle of 'appellare' meaning 'to call upon' or 'to address'. In Roman law the verb was already used for calling on a higher authority to overturn a ruling, and that legal sense travelled directly into English courtroom vocabulary. The English noun 'appeal' comes from the same Latin root through Old French.