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• denouement
  denouement

  noun

  the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel.
• dénouement
  dénouement

  The solution or outcome of the plot of a play or novel: “In the dénouement of many tragedies, the main character dies.”

denouement

American  

[day-noo-mahn] / ˌdeɪ nuˈmɑ̃ /

Or dénouement

noun

• denouements
  plural

1. the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel.

2. the place in the plot at which this occurs.

3. the outcome or resolution of a doubtful series of occurrences.

   Synonyms:

   upshot, end, conclusion, solution

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denouement British  

/ deɪˈnuːmɒn, denumɑ̃ /

noun

1. 1. the final clarification or resolution of a plot in a play or other work

   2. the point at which this occurs

2. final outcome; solution

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dénouement Cultural  

1. The solution or outcome of the plot of a play or novel: “In the dénouement of many tragedies, the main character dies.”

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• denouements
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of denouement

First recorded in 1745–55; from French: literally, “an untying,” equivalent to dénouer “to untie,” Old French desnoer ( des- + noer “to knot,” from Latin nōdāre, derivative of nōdus “knot”) + -ment; see de-, -ment

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Explanation

You know that part of every movie after the big action scene, where things get explained, and the characters tie up loose ends? That's called the denouement, or the showing of how the plot eventually turns out. Denouement is a French word that literally means the action of untying, from a verb meaning to untie. The English word is pronounced like the French: day-noo-MON. The last syllable has a nasalized vowel instead of the n sound. You can use it outside the context of plays or novels, too: you might describe the denouement of an argument between two friends.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

denouement dénouement denouements

Then, in “The Closing of the American Mind,” Allan Bloom described the educational denouement: universities failing to transmit serious understanding of the Western inheritance while teaching students to distrust its claims.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

The tragic denouement has left a complex reckoning.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

Hundreds of intellectuals and others have signed letters and online petitions expressing fears of a disastrous denouement: the collection’s prolonged — and possible permanent — absence from Mexico.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

What a denouement to the group this promises to be.

From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026

His chess innocence gone, he could now see the denouement perhaps twenty or more moves ahead.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

That brings us to the present, and the impending sour dénouement to the calamitous 28 points.

From Slate ● Nov. 24, 2025

There's no way to judge or measure the probability of such a dreaded dénouement now.

From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2023

For example, the dénouement, while presenting a horrific situation, doesn’t fill the viewer with dread.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2021

What placed him squarely in the spotlight was his defection to the West, at the end of the Kirov tour, and the dénouement of “The White Crow” occurs at Le Bourget airport, in suburban Paris.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 26, 2019

I was explaining the dénouement when Cloke Rayburn abruptly shouldered through the crowd.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

Yet despite a number of similarities, including mistakes made and disastrous denouements that spelled defeat for the U.S., each conflict had entirely different impacts on U.S. society, culture and politics.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2022

Campy whodunnit Clue embraced the chaos: its 1985 cinema release randomly featured one of three different denouements to encourage repeat business.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 22, 2021

He was a student of the Tom Wolfe school of writing and favored stories with deeper meaning and surprising denouements.

From Golf Digest ● Apr. 14, 2020

It has survived the unhappy denouements of his last three jobs: at Real Madrid, a return to Chelsea, and then United, three clubs at which he lost first his players’ faith and then control.

From New York Times ● Nov. 20, 2019

I assure you, Clotilde, that it is the most reasonable of denouements.

From Doctor Pascal by Mary J. (Mary Jane) Serrano

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Related Words

• climax
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