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Literature vocabulary · Plot and Structure

Cliffhanger

Meaning in literature, with examples

/ˈklɪfhæŋə/nounCommon term

In literature, cliffhanger means: An ending of a chapter, episode or book that leaves the story at an exciting, unresolved moment so that readers want to know what happens next.

In Turkish: merakta bırakan son, gerilimli son, cliffhanger

How it is used

Common in serialized fiction, thrillers and TV series. Chapters or seasons end on a cliffhanger. Dickens used cliffhangers in his serialized novels, and Scheherazade's stories in One Thousand and One Nights are built on the same idea. The term is often traced to Thomas Hardy's A Pair of Blue Eyes, where a character hangs from a cliff.

Example sentences

  1. Every chapter ends with a cliffhanger, so I read the whole book in one night.

  2. The first volume closes on a cliffhanger: the brother's letter is never opened.

Common collocations

  • end on a cliffhanger
  • leave readers on a cliffhanger
  • a real cliffhanger
  • cliffhanger ending
  • chapterOne of the main numbered or titled parts into which a book, especially a novel, is divided.
  • plotThe series of connected events in a story and the way the writer arranges them, especially how one event causes another.
  • foreshadowingA technique in which the writer gives early hints or warnings about events that will happen later in the story.
  • climaxThe most intense and important moment of a story, when the main conflict reaches its turning point and the outcome is decided.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Plot and Structure

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