redeeming feature

Idioms and Phrases

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

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

From Los Angeles Times

“I stumbled and hemmed and hawed and carried on and figured that the only redeeming feature of the whole thing was my mother in New York couldn’t see me make a fool of myself. But it was pretty bad. Anyway I survived the experience.”

From Washington Post

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

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

From Washington Post

Carrey’s Riddler is the sole redeeming feature of this lurid disappointment – his mania is underpinned by a tangible sense of hurt – and this might be why he found himself on the outs with his co-stars.

From The Guardian