feature
pronunciation
How to pronounce feature in British English:
UK [ˈfiːtʃə(r)]
How to pronounce feature in American English:
US [ˈfiːtʃər]
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- Noun:
- a prominent aspect of something
- the characteristic parts of a person's face: eyes and nose and mouth and chin
- the principal (full-length) film in a program at a movie theater
- a special or prominent article in a newspaper or magazine
- an article of merchandise that is displayed or advertised more than other articles
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- Verb:
- have as a feature
- wear or display in an ostentatious or proud manner
Word Origin
- feature
- feature: [14] 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’, for example, 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.=> difficult, fact, factory, fashion, feasible, feat
- feature (n.)
- early 14c., "make, form, fashion" (obsolete), from Anglo-French feture, from Old French faiture "deed, action; fashion, shape, form; countenance," from Latin factura "a formation, a working," from past participle stem of facere "make, do, perform" (see factitious). Sense of "facial characteristic" is mid-14c.; that of "any distinctive part" first recorded 1690s. Entertainment sense is from 1801; in journalism by 1855. Meaning "a feature film" is from 1913. Latin factura also is the source of Spanish hechura, Portuguese feitura, Italian fattura.
- feature (v.)
- 1755, "to resemble, have features resembling," from feature (n.). The sense of "make special display or attraction of" is 1888; entertainment sense from 1897. Related: Featured; featuring.
Example
- 1. This is a distinctive feature of true writing .
- 2. The most important feature of such a tax is symmetry .
- 3. The voyager 's other key feature is its long battery life .
- 4. The psychology of national character does not feature in pharmacological thinking .
- 5. The irish banks all feature prominently on the worst losses list .