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

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

“I couldn’t find a single redeeming feature about this utterly loathsome figure.”

From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2023

Its only redeeming feature is that the words are so tiny I can’t read them.

From Washington Post • Dec. 31, 2020

But the store has one great redeeming feature: It does not charge for postage, which is considerable across the ocean.

From New York Times • Jul. 18, 2018

The redeeming feature of the game is Rubinstein's fine combination in the middle game, beginning with 14 B � Kt.

From Chess Fundamentals by Capablanca, José Raúl