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

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

The microphone is good One redeeming feature that the Earphones HD have is a high-quality microphone, which I was told during testing made me sound very clear and easily understandable.

From The Verge • Feb. 8, 2018

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

But, in the case of Mary E. Surratt, not a single redeeming feature relieves “The deep damnation of her taking off.”

From The Judicial Murder of Mary E. Surratt by DeWitt, David Miller