epilogue

noun

ep·​i·​logue ˈe-pə-ˌlȯg 

-ˌläg

variants or less commonly epilog

1

: a concluding section that rounds out the design of a literary work

2

a

: a speech often in verse addressed to the audience by an actor at the end of a play

also : the actor speaking such an epilogue

b

: the final scene of a play that comments on or summarizes the main action

3

: the concluding section of a musical composition : coda

Did you know?

From its Greek roots, epilogue means basically "words attached (at the end)". An epilogue often somehow wraps up a story's action, as in the one for a famous Shakespeare play that ends, "For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo". In nonfiction books, we now often use the term afterword instead of epilogue, just as we now generally use foreword instead of prologue. Movies also often have a kind of epilogue--maybe a scene after the exciting climax when the surviving lovers meet in a café to talk about their future. The epilogue of a musical composition, after all the drama is over, is called the coda (Italian for "tail").

Examples of epilogue in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This edition includes an epilogue that ends on a poignant note: Guibert died from AIDS in 1991, at the age of 36, the same year Suzanne passed away at 95. —Julie Belcove, Robb Report, 23 Nov. 2024

But the finale’s boldest move comes in its epilogue. —Noel Murray, Vulture, 17 July 2024

Jansson, whose early life was depicted in the 2020 Finnish biographical drama Tove, spent five months a year for three decades on the island with her life partner, who shot the 8mm home movies seen in an epilogue in that film and on the end credits here. —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Oct. 2024

Some have functioned as an epilogue or finale, others as backstory to the main plot—a kind of playable flashback—or even a commentary upon it. —Gabriel Winslow-Yost, Harper's Magazine, 23 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English epiloge, from Middle French epilogue, from Latin epilogus, from Greek epilogos, from epilegein to say in addition, from epi- + legein to say — more at legend

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

epilogue

noun

ep·​i·​logue

variants also epilog

ˈep-ə-ˌlȯg 

-ˌläg

1

: a final section that brings to an end and summarizes or comments on the action or characters of a story

2

: a speech often in verse addressed to the audience by an actor at the end of a play