feature — English Dictionary

Noun

1. One's structure or make-up: form, shape, bodily proportions.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   all the powres of nature, / Which she by art could vse vnto her will, / And to her seruice bind each liuing creature; / Through secret vnderstanding of their feature.

2. An important or main item. A component that draws attention or interest.

   Synonyms

   attraction

   Examples

   a water feature

   Features of this model include a long battery life and a durable case.

3. An important or main item. A beneficial capability of a piece of software.

   Usage

   • broadly

   Examples

   The program contained an internal feature, which allowed a user to update display text after each command keystroke.

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   Whoop Life has a feature called Blood Pressure Insights that uses various bits of data—including heart rate, HRV, and blood flow patterns—to estimate your blood pressure.

4. An important or main item. A long, prominent article or item in the media, or the department that creates them; frequently used technically to distinguish content from news.

   Examples

   A feature interview with a noted personality or a discussion covering a specific issue is then presented.

   He was included in a feature that was written by the EspnCricinfo department on the media.

5. Any of the physical constituents of the face (eyes, nose, etc.).

6. The cast or structure of anything, or of any part of a thing, as of a landscape, a picture, a treaty, or an essay; any marked peculiarity or characteristic.

   Examples

   one of the features of the landscape

   The most prominent feature of the New England land system was the town grant, which in every case became the territorial basis of a group settlement.

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   Another recently discovered cave temple site, Shizikou in Linyou County, Shaanxi, preserves sculptures with thin legs, particularly bodhisattvas, that are much taller and more slender than the figures of this niche but share a number of stylistic features, including a diagonal chest shawl and a dhoti with an overlapping apron of cloth that falls from the waist in the same two-part pattern of scalloped folds and a waist tie hanging down the middle; they have long tubular arms as well.

   England are up and running. Again. It has been a happy feature of the Gareth Southgate years that his team always win their opening tie at tournaments. It never used to be the case with England but to the list that features Tunisia, Croatia and Iran can be added the name of Serbia.

7. Something discerned from physical evidence that helps define, identify, characterize, and interpret an archeological site.

   Examples

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   A feature of many Central Texas prehistoric archeological sites is a low spreading pile of stones called a rock midden. Other features at these sites may include small hearths.

8. Characteristic forms or shapes of parts. For example, a hole, boss, slot, cut, chamfer, or fillet.

9. An individual measurable property or characteristic of a phenomenon being observed; the input of a model.

   Examples

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   MIT researchers are striving to improve the interpretability of features so decision makers will be more comfortable using the outputs of machine-learning models. Drawing on years of field work, they developed a taxonomy to help developers craft features that will be easier for their target audience to understand.

10. The act of being featured in a piece of music, as a collaborator. See verb sense below; also feat.

11. The elements into which linguistic units can be broken down.

    Examples

    Voicing is a feature of the consonants b, d, and g.

Verb

1. To ascribe the greatest importance to something within a certain context.

   Usage

   • Transitive

2. To star, to contain.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   Whitfield wanted to put together a new act to feature his abilities.

   More examples (1)

   England are up and running. Again. It has been a happy feature of the Gareth Southgate years that his team always win their opening tie at tournaments. It never used to be the case with England but to the list that features Tunisia, Croatia and Iran can be added the name of Serbia.

3. To appear, to make an appearance.

   Usage

   • Intransitive

   Examples

   Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love, Deep Purple's Smoke On The Water and Layla by Derek and the Dominos also featured in the top five.

4. To have features resembling.

   Usage

   • Dated
   • Transitive

   Examples

   More than his talents, Roger grudged him his looks, the brown eyes, golden hair, and oval face, which made people say how Johnny Weir featured his mother.

5. To think about, understand, or imagine.

   Usage

   • US usage
   • Regional

   Examples

   She could feature Charles doing it, but Jerome was the perfect model of an altar boy, who made you wonder after all if there was such a bugaboo as original sin.

Noun

1. a prominent attribute or aspect of something

   Synonyms

   characteristic

   Broader terms

   propertyattributedimension

   Examples

   the map showed roads and other features

   generosity is one of his best characteristics

2. the characteristic parts of a person's face: eyes and nose and mouth and chin

   Synonyms

   lineament

   Broader terms

   body part

   Examples

   an expression of pleasure crossed his features

   his lineaments were very regular

3. the principal (full-length) film in a program at a movie theater

   Synonyms

   feature film

   Broader terms

   moviefilmpicturemoving picturemoving-picture showmotion picturemotion-picture showpicture showpicflick

   Examples

   the feature tonight is ‘Casablanca’

4. a special or prominent article in a newspaper or magazine

   Synonyms

   feature article

   Broader terms

   article

   Examples

   they ran a feature on retirement planning

5. (linguistics) a distinctive characteristic of a linguistic unit that serves to distinguish it from other units of the same kind

   Synonyms

   feature of speech

   Broader terms

   propertyattributedimension

6. an article of merchandise that is displayed or advertised more than other articles

   Broader terms

   merchandisewareproduct

Verb

1. have as a feature

   Synonyms

   have

   Broader terms

   havehave gothold

   Examples

   This restaurant features the most famous chefs in France

2. wear or display in an ostentatious or proud manner

   Synonyms

   sportboast

   Broader terms

   have

   Examples

   she was sporting a new hat