A.Word.A.Day --denouement

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denouement

PRONUNCIATION:

(day-noo-MAHN)

[the final syllable is nasal]

MEANING:

noun: The final resolution of the plot of a story or a complex sequence of events.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French dénouement (outcome or conclusion; literally, untying), from dénouer (to unknot or undo), from de- (away from) + nouer (to tie), from Latin nodus (knot). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ned- (to bind), which is also the source of node, noose, annex, connect, ouch, and nettle. Earliest documented use: 1752.

USAGE:

"But in Japan's narrative, the denouement is elusive. This disaster story keeps building, growing worse."
Japan's Crucible; Chicago Tribune (Illinois); Mar 15, 2011.

See more usage examples of denouement in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these. -George Washington Carver, scientist (1864-1943)

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