redeeming feature

Idioms  

1. A good quality or aspect that makes up for other drawbacks, as in The house isn't very attractive, but the garden is the redeeming feature. This idiom, first recorded in 1827, uses redeem in the sense of “compensate.”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

redeeming feature

Its redeeming feature was supposed to be re-establishing freedom of navigation in the Strait while nuclear talks proceeded.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

They offered not one redeeming feature as they slumped again, the visiting fans suffering as they made their way home from a freezing west London night.

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2025

If “Intrusion” has one redeeming feature, it’s Marshall-Green, whose performance as the husband with a dark secret has a crackling, tightly controlled intensity far more nuanced and persuasive than anything else in the film.

From New York Times ● Sep. 22, 2021

USA Today's Claudia Puig says, "The only redeeming feature about 'The Gunman' is its exotic locations," which include the Congo, London, Barcelona and Gibraltar.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2015

The surroundings were barren rocks, gloomy deep valleys, and desolate gullies, the only redeeming feature being a glimpse of the ocean on one hand.

From The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 1 by Whymper, Frederick