denouement

noun

de·​noue·​ment ˌdā-ˌnü-ˈmäⁿ  dā-ˈnü-ˌmäⁿ 

variants or less commonly dénouement

plural denouements also dénouements

1

: the final outcome of the main dramatic complication in a novel, play, film, etc.

In the novel's denouement, the two hostages escape to freedom.

It is an intentionally unsettling denouement, which is in keeping with the tone and purpose of the entire miniseries.

—David Wiegand

2

: the outcome of a complex sequence of events

the competition's exciting denouement

Examples of denouement in a Sentence

In the play's denouement, the two lovers kill themselves.

Recent Examples on the Web

By then, the staging — especially a scene-seating capsizing of the boat, which makes room for the lifeboat — was in place, and the gruesome denouement also remained. —David Browne, Rolling Stone, 21 Jan. 2025

Advertisement Movies ‘Gladiator II’ exaggerates, but historians say the real-life Colosseum was plenty wild Nov. 22, 2024 The increasing strain of U.S. isolationism has led many to consider the pending denouement of another empire, this one American. —Chris Vognar, Los Angeles Times, 16 Jan. 2025

The boldness of the plot was a dark reflection of India’s rising economic weight in the West, despite the farcical denouement: An American informant had unwittingly been hired as a hit man. —Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 2 Jan. 2025

And that’s a wrap for Dark Matter, a more-thoughtful-than-I’d-expected series that lives up to its name by giving us a quasi-happy denouement that is in fact quantifiably more tragic than if Jason A had never found his way back to his family. —Chris Klimek, Vulture, 26 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

French dénouement, literally, untying, from Middle French desnouement, from desnouer to untie, from Old French desnoer, from des- de- + noer to tie, from Latin nodare, from nodus knot — more at node

First Known Use

1705, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

denouement

noun

de·​noue·​ment ˌdā-ˌnü-ˈmän  dā-ˈnü-ˌ 

1

: the final solution or untangling of the conflicts or difficulties that make up the plot of a literary work

2

: the outcome of a complicated or difficult situation or sequence of events