feature

noun

An important or main item.

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

(computing) A beneficial capability of a piece of software.

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

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.

(statistics, machine learning) An individual measurable property or characteristic of a phenomenon being observed; the input of a model.

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

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

(linguistics) The elements into which linguistic units can be broken down.

(music) The act of being featured in a piece of music.

(film) Ellipsis of feature film. [The main, full-length film in a cinema program that also included a short film and often a newsreel. As of now, it plays after the trailers.]

(obsolete) One's structure or make-up: form, shape, bodily proportions.

verb

(transitive) To ascribe the greatest importance to something within a certain context.

(transitive) To star, to contain.

(intransitive) To appear, to make an appearance.

(Western Pennsylvania) To think about, understand, or imagine.

(transitive, dated) To have features resembling.

Roots

faciofeat- · Latin · make, do

Synonyms for feature

characteristicadj traitn peculiarityn highlightv attributev aspectn

Synonyms & related words for feature

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of feature — including characteristic, trait, peculiarity, highlight, attribute, aspect. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to feature

Explore words related to feature — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include lineament, disfeature, boast, include, functionality, featurette, virilism, showcases. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for feature

Common synonyms for feature include characteristic, trait, peculiarity, highlight, attribute, aspect — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does feature come from?

The word feature breaks down into one root of Latin origin: the root feat-, from Latin facio (“make, do”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.