• Feature

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /fiːtʃə(ɹ)/
    • Rhymes: -iːtʃə(ɹ)

    Origin

    From Anglo-Norman feture, from Old French faiture, from Latin factura.

    Full definition of feature

    Noun

    feature

    (plural features)
    1. (obsolete) One's structure or make-up; form, shape, bodily proportions.
      • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.ii: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.
    3. (media) A long, prominent, article or item in the media, or the department that creates them; frequently used technically to distinguish content from news.
    4. Any of the physical constituents of the face (eyes, nose, etc.).
    5. (computing) A beneficial capability of a piece of software.
      • 2002, Sam Williams, S:Free as in Freedom/Chapter 6, The program contained an internal feature, which allowed a user to update display text after each command keystroke.
    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; as, one of the features of the landscape.
      • 1911, S:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/United States/History, 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.
    7. (archaeology) Something discerned from physical evidence that helps define, identify, characterize, and interpret an archeological site.
      • 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. (engineering) Characteristic forms or shapes of a part. For example, a hole, boss, slot, cut, chamfer, or fillet.

    Synonyms

    Verb

    1. To ascribe the greatest importance to something within a certain context.
    2. To star, to contain.
    3. to appear; to make an appearance.
    © Wiktionary