feature
Definitions
General English
- noun a part of the face such as the nose or mouth
- noun an important part or aspect of something
- noun an important story or article in a TV news programme or in a newspaper
- verb to have someone as the main performer of a film, a TV programme or a play
- verb to appear as the main actor in, or as the subject of a film or a TV programme
General Science
- verb to have something as a particular characteristic
Aviation
- noun an important, noticeable or distinctive aspect, quality, or characteristic
Electronics
- A characteristic which is meant to be useful, unique, or otherwise favorable. For instance, safety, convenience, or electrical characteristics which are especially suitable for a given task or function.
Information & Library Science
- noun a special characteristic of something
- noun a special article in a newspaper, magazine or broadcast programme
Marketing
- noun an article in a newspaper or magazine that deals with one subject in depth
Media Studies
- noun an newspaper article that is longer and more descriptive than a news story, containing more background and colour
- noun an item for a radio or television programme, usually consisting of interviews, actuality and links edited together
Military
- noun any natural or man-made thing which is visible on the ground
- noun a distinctive piece of high ground (such as a hill, knoll, ridge, saddle, etc.)
Publishing
- verb to promote something specially in a newspaper article
Real Estate
- noun an aspect of a property that is a special attraction, e.g. a particularly attractive fixture such as a fireplace
Travel
- verb to show as an important item
Origin & History of “feature”
Feature comes ultimately from Latin factūra, a derivative of the verb facere ‘do, make’ which meant literally ‘making, formation’. Elements of this original sense remained when the word reached English via Old French faiture – when John Dymmok wrote in 1600 of ‘horses of a fine feature’, e.g., he was referring to their shape or general conformation – but already a semantic narrowing down to the ‘way in which the face is shaped’ had taken place. This meaning was then distributed, as it were, to the individual components of the face, and hence (in the 17th century) to any distinctive or characteristic part.
