Coelurosaur characteristics included an extended sacrum, a distally stiffened tail and a bowed ulna. The tibia is also characteristically longer than the femur, in coelurosaurs. Fossil evidence shows that all coelurosaurs were probably feathered.

Additionally, fossilized traces of feathers have been identified from at least one species in almost every coelurosaur lineage. Feathers are known from coelurids, tyrannosaurs, oviraptorosaurs, therizinosaurs, alvarezsaurids, dromaeosaurids, and troodontids. All known specimens in the family Scansoriopterygidae are also known from feather-bearing fossils. To date, the only group of Coelurosaurs which have not shown direct evidence of feathers are the ornithomimosaurs.