cliffhanger
noun
a melodramatic or adventure serial in which each installment ends in suspense in order to interest the reader or viewer in the next installment.
cliffhangers
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pluralof cliffhanger.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Rovner: Soap operas were a natural place for people to lean in at first because they have natural cliffhangers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Fun at times, ridiculous at others, the show ended with multiple cliffhangers, so pulling the plug seems especially painful.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
From time to time I’ll make an exception and settle into a relative page-turner: nothing with cliffhangers or lots of hand-to-hand combat, mind you, but with a brisker narrative pace.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
“There was a strong emphasis on cliffhangers in manga before One Piece,” he continues.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2024
"TNG" and "Deep Space Nine" were syndicated series, and in the age of scripted syndication, cliffhangers were insurance beckoning a wandering audience to return.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2023
