dénouement

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the final part of a story or drama in which complications are resolved

   The detective disclosed the culprit in the story's dénouement.

2. 2
   noun

   the outcome or final resolution of a complicated sequence of real events

   Months of negotiation produced an unexpectedly peaceful dénouement.

Borrowed from French dénouement, from dénouer, 'to untie or unravel,' formed from dé- + nouer, 'to knot.' The literal untying became a literary metaphor for resolving the knots of a plot.

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