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.”

---

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

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 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

Perhaps there is one redeeming feature and if it wasn’t for some consolation the pictures and scenes would be so indelibly impressed that you would be able to recall them long after you’d said “Amen.”

From Treading the Narrow Way by Barrett, R. E.