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Literature vocabulary · Plot and Structure

Open ending

Meaning in literature, with examples

nounCommon term

In literature, open ending means: An ending that leaves important questions unresolved, allowing more than one possible interpretation of what happens next.

In Turkish: açık son

How it is used

Used for novels, films, and stories whose final scene does not fully settle the conflict or future. It often invites discussion and interpretation.

Example sentences

  1. Our reading group preferred the novel’s open ending because it kept the daughter’s decision morally unsettled.

    The term shows that the conclusion deliberately avoids a final judgment, leaving readers to weigh the character’s choice themselves.

  2. The editor worried that the open ending would frustrate casual readers expecting a clear reconciliation scene.

    Here, the phrase points to a lack of full closure, especially where readers might expect the main relationship to be clearly resolved.

Common collocations

  • an open ending
  • use an open ending
  • open ending of the novel
  • plotThe series of connected events in a story and the way the writer arranges them, especially how one event causes another.
  • climaxThe most intense and important moment of a story, when the main conflict reaches its turning point and the outcome is decided.

More terms: Plot and Structure

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