The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Redeem \Re*deem"\ (r?*d?m"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Redeemed.
   (-d?md"); p. pr. & vb. n. Redeeming.] [F. r['e]dimer, L.
   redimere; pref. red-, re- re- + emere, emptum, to buy,
   originally, to take, cf. OIr. em (in comp.), Lith. imti. Cf.
   Assume, Consume, Exempt, Premium, Prompt,
   Ransom.]
   1. To purchase back; to regain possession of by payment of a
      stipulated price; to repurchase.
      [1913 Webster]

            If a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city,
            then he may redeem it within a whole year after it
            is sold.                              --Lev. xxv.
                                                  29.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Hence, specifically:
      (a) (Law) To recall, as an estate, or to regain, as
          mortgaged property, by paying what may be due by force
          of the mortgage.
      (b) (Com.) To regain by performing the obligation or
          condition stated; to discharge the obligation
          mentioned in, as a promissory note, bond, or other
          evidence of debt; as, to redeem bank notes with coin.
          [1913 Webster]

   3. To ransom, liberate, or rescue from captivity or bondage,
      or from any obligation or liability to suffer or to be
      forfeited, by paying a price or ransom; to ransom; to
      rescue; to recover; as, to redeem a captive, a pledge, and
      the like.
      [1913 Webster]

            Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. --Ps.
                                                  xxv. 22.
      [1913 Webster]

            The Almighty from the grave
            Hath me redeemed.                     --Sandys.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Theol.) Hence, to rescue and deliver from the bondage of
      sin and the penalties of God's violated law.
      [1913 Webster]

            Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,
            being made a curse for us.            --Gal. iii.
                                                  13.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. To make good by performing fully; to fulfill; as, to
      redeem one's promises.
      [1913 Webster]

            I will redeem all this on Percy's head. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. To pay the penalty of; to make amends for; to serve as an
      equivalent or offset for; to atone for; to compensate; as,
      to redeem an error.
      [1913 Webster]

            Which of ye will be mortal, to redeem
            Man's mortal crime?                   --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

            It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows.
                                                  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   To redeem the time, to make the best use of it.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

redeeming
    adj 1: bringing about salvation or redemption from sin; "saving
           faith"; "redemptive (or redeeming) love" [syn:
           redemptive, redeeming(a), saving(a)]
    2: compensating for some fault or defect; "the redeeming feature
       of the plan is its simplicity"; "his saving grace was his
       sense of humor"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

37 Moby Thesaurus words for "redeeming":
   apologetic, ascetic, atoning, cleansing, compensational,
   compensatory, expiatory, indemnificatory, lustral, lustrational,
   lustrative, penitential, piacular, propitiatory, purgative,
   purgatorial, purifying, reclamatory, recompensing, redemptional,
   redemptive, redressing, reparative, reparatory, repentant,
   repenting, restitutional, restitutive, restitutory, restorative,
   retributive, reversional, reversionary, revertible, righting,
   satisfactional, squaring