The phrase "as a defining feature of" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a characteristic or quality that is essential or distinctive to something.
Example: "The ability to adapt to changing environments is often regarded as a defining feature of successful species."
Alternatives: "as a key characteristic of" or "as a fundamental aspect of".
Scientists and campaigners pointed to the finding as a defining feature of the report.
Both recognize delay of marriage and child-rearing as a defining feature of the new stage in adulthood.
Attention has been directed towards the importance of online dialogue for learning as a defining feature of the VLE.
Dave Hickey, a friend of Thomas's who is a MacArthur Award-winning cultural critic, sees Thomas's knowledge of design history as a defining feature of his style.
This move, which was particularly audacious in a conservative South Asian context, coincided with the rise of identity politics as a defining feature of a multicultural art world.
In your work in India you come up against the importance of religion as a defining feature of the environment that makes implementation of some goals difficult, if not impossible.
Genomic analyses have provided evidence that drastic rearrangement events such as aneuploidy, a defining feature of genetic instability and cancer, and chromothripsis drive cancer progression [ 28].
I've spent a lot of time thinking about how, where and even if mental health can fit into the life of a young student, and in the process have realized that stress is, as many studies show, a defining feature of the millennial generation.
Such ability to opt in or out at will is a defining feature of neoliberalism, as is the persistent race to the bottom in terms of the prices countries and people are willing to charge to attract investment.
It is well known that the capacity to use legitimate, state-sanctioned force such as stop and search is a defining feature of the police organisation.
He was South Somerset district council's tree officer, and he told us how, on the old tithe maps, a big proportion of village land was shown as given over to orchards, a defining feature of the Somerset scene until the encroachment of acres of housing.
