2 meanings
(click/touch triangles for details)
1 —as in:
its main redeeming quality is...
Definition
to make up for something bad; or to save- Our dog is dirty, noisy, and ill-behaved, but her redeeming quality is that she is so loving.
redeeming = thing that makes up for bad things
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- It's been a terrible season, but the team has a shot at redemption if they can beat their cross-town rival.
- The movie, Shawshank Redemption, depicts redemption in many ways. The injustice that permits the corrupt prison warden to thrive is made up when he is arrested. Andy's escape from prison with the warden's ill-gotten gains helps to make up for his false imprisonment. And Andy makes up for having failed his wife by helping others generally and in particular by saving Red.
- "Everyone has something good about them," she said. "You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that."Jeannette Walls -- The Glass Castle
- When I decamped from Boulder for Alaska, my head swimming with visions of glory and redemption on the Devils Thumb, it didn't occur to me that I might be bound by the same cause-and-effect relationships that governed the actions of others.Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild
- When it is recalled that until the Christian era the underworld was never regarded as a hostile area, that all gods were useful and essentially friendly to man despite occasional lapses; when we see the steady and methodical inculcation into humanity of the idea of man's worthlessness—until redeemed—the necessity of the Devil may become evident as a weapon, a weapon designed and used time and time again in every age to whip men into a surrender to a particular church or church-state.Arthur Miller -- The Crucible
- But in the fourth quarter, I'd get my shot at redemption.Carl Deuker -- Gym Candy
- We have torn ourselves from the truth which is our brother men, and there is no road back for us, and no redemption.Ayn Rand -- Anthem
- Better it were a brother died at once
Than that a sister, by redeeming him,
Should die for ever.William Shakespeare -- Measure for Measure - you may redeem your banish'd honours, and restore yourselves Into the good thoughts of the world again;William Shakespeare -- Henry IV, Part 1
redemption = making up for bad things (in this case, saving the season)
redemption = to make up for something bad
redeeming = making up for the bad
redemption = making up for something bad
redeemed = saved
redemption = making up for something bad
redemption = making up for it (something bad)
redeeming = saving (by exchanging something else of value)
redeem = to make up for something bad
2 —as in:
redeem the coupon
Definition
the exchange of something such as a coupon or voucher for something of value- The coupon can be redeemed for a free candy bar.
redeemed = exchanged
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- Points earned with the credit card can be redeemed for free airline tickets and other products.
- The city imposed a three-year moratorium on the redemption of $1.6 billion in city short-term debt.
- When we wanted money, we walked along the roadside picking up beer cans and bottles that we redeemed for two cents each.Jeannette Walls -- The Glass Castle
- Shall our coffers, then, be emptied to redeem a traitor home?William Shakespeare -- Henry IV, Part 1
- Babysitting and tutoring and doing other kids' homework and mowing lawns and redeeming bottles and selling scrap metal didn't count.Jeannette Walls -- The Glass Castle
- One afternoon when Brian and I had come home to an empty fridge, we went out to the alley behind the house looking for bottles to redeem.Jeannette Walls -- The Glass Castle
- After we redeemed the bottles or sold the scrap metal, we walked into town, to the drugstore next door to the Owl Club.Jeannette Walls -- The Glass Castle
- I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He is yours.Theodore Dreiser -- An American Tragedy
- Oh, place all your trust in the mediation of our Holy Redeemer!James Fenimore Cooper -- The Pathfinder
redeemed = exchanged
redemption = exchange (in this case, of money for debt)
redeemed = exchanged
redeem = exchange in return for (bringing)
redeeming = exchanging (for money)
redeem = exchange (for money)
redeemed = exchanged (for money)
Less commonly:
In Christianity, redemption is used to reference Jesus' sacrifice to make up for human sin.
Old usage (as might be found in the Bible or in Shakespeare) also uses redeeming time to refer to making the best use of time.