featured

1. 1
   adjective

   Given prominent placement or special attention in a display, show, lineup, or collection so as to stand out.

   Like the headline act on a festival poster, set apart from all the others.

   The featured speaker drew the largest crowd of the entire conference.

   Each issue highlights a featured photographer chosen by the editors.

   Similarhighlighted

2. 2
   verb

   Past participle of feature.

   The exhibition has featured works from across the continent.

   Her essays have been featured in major newspapers nationwide.

   Note

   Two verbs meet in this participle. With have, it can be transitive (the exhibition has featured works) or intransitive, meaning "appeared" (her essays have featured in newspapers). With be, only the transitive verb works. As a result, her essays were featured in newspapers and her essays have featured in newspapers say nearly the same thing by two routes. Before a noun it becomes the "showcased" adjective, as in a featured speaker.

3. 3
   adjectivein compounds

   Having facial features of a particular kind or character, usually as specified by a modifying word.

   The delicately featured young woman in the portrait gazed out serenely.

   A coarsely featured fellow answered the door without a word.

   Note

   Built the way bearded or long-legged are built: the noun feature plus -ed, meaning "having features." It almost never stands alone. A modifier supplies the character, as in broad-featured, hard-featured or finely featured. An adjective compound is hyphenated before a noun (the broad-featured son of a farmer), while an -ly adverb stays open (a finely featured face). A broad-featured actor is not necessarily a featured one in the showcase sense.

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