The House  /  Word of the Day

Denouement

The untangling after the climax.

Noun · pronounced day-noo-MAHN

What it means:

The denouement is the part of a story after the climax, where loose ends are tied up and the characters settle into what comes next. The word is French for "untying."

The fight ends on page 300, but the denouement, a quiet breakfast twenty pages later, is what readers remember.

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