finale
Americannoun
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the last piece, division, or movement of a concert, opera, or composition.
-
the concluding part of any performance, course of proceedings, etc.; end.
noun
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the concluding part of any performance or presentation
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the closing section or movement of a musical composition
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of finale
1715–25; < Italian, noun use of finale (adj.) < Latin fīnālis final
Explanation
If you decide to leave the theater early to beat traffic, you’ll miss the finale — the exciting final part of a theatrical performance. Perhaps to ensure that audience members stay until the end, many musical and theatrical pieces end with an elaborate flourish known as the finale. (If it’s truly spectacular, it might even be called a “grand finale.”) Appropriately, the pronunciation of finale contains a final flourish that you just can’t miss: the letter e, which you might expect to be silent, is pronounced. The last two syllables of finale rhyme with alley.
Vocabulary lists containing finale
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney
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Theater - Introductory
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Theater - Middle School
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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.
See Examples For:
The victory margin denied the tournament a competitive finale fitting of the day, with Lord's filled by a capacity crowd in another landmark moment for the women's game.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
The grande finale of the fireworks show was marked by a massive flurry of blasts - reaching a much anticipated crescendo.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
And, catcher Logan O’Hoppe walked off the series finale against the Orioles with a slow-rolling infield single in extra innings the next day.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026
The buzz: Unbeaten Belgium didn’t score a goal of its own until routing New Zealand 5-1 in its group-play finale.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
And what about Ranger Alford at the second tryout or those people who clapped for me at the finale.
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
But the ones I found most interesting were finales I don’t remember encountering in Baseball Digest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
Long before CBS announced it was pulling the plug on “The Late Show,” its host Stephen Colbert had already laid claim to helming one of late-night’s greatest finales.
From Salon ● May 21, 2026
“They’re going to say he insisted. I did not insist. But I think it will be quite successful… I used to host the Apprentice finales, and we did rather well with that.”
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2025
We’re in an era where flashy or cliffhanger-type finales are big.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2025
Cora had not seen him since the first night, but she had heard every speech of the Friday-night finales.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
