DENOUEMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does denouement mean? 

• DENOUEMENT (noun)
  The noun DENOUEMENT has 2 senses:

1. the outcome of a complex sequence of events

2. the final resolution of the main complication of a literary or dramatic work

  Familiarity information: DENOUEMENT used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DENOUEMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The outcome of a complex sequence of events

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("denouement" is a kind of...):

final result; outcome; result; resultant; termination (something that results)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The final resolution of the main complication of a literary or dramatic work

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("denouement" is a kind of...):

answer; resolution; result; solution; solvent (a statement that solves a problem or explains how to solve the problem)

 Context examples 

All about the carriage were gathered the children from a dozen blocks, waiting and eager for some tragic and terrible denouement.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Her story was as full of desperation and despair as her limited acquaintance with those uncomfortable emotions enabled her to make it, and having located it in Lisbon, she wound up with an earthquake, as a striking and appropriate denouement.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)