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Meet the Word
🔊 day-noo-MAHN · noun
A denouement is the final untangling — the stretch right after a story's big climax where every loose thread gets tied off: the mystery gets solved, the couple ends up together (or doesn't), the twist finally makes sense. It's not just "the ending" — it's specifically the part where all that built-up tension has somewhere to go. And yes, you say it the fancy French way, day-noo-MAHN, silent "t" included — English liked this word so much it borrowed it whole, accent mark and all.
Every finale, whodunit, and family blowup eventually needs one. See "denouement" used in the wild, plus the one mistake almost everyone makes with it.
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