noun

denouement

day-noo-MAHN/ˌdeɪnuːˈmɑ̃ː/

The final resolution of a story or situation.

In the denouement, the investigator returns the stolen necklace to its relieved owner.

The concluding scene of a mystery: a woman investigator returns a recovered jeweled necklace to its relieved older owner while a chastened thief, hands together, stands beside a calm police officer.

Etymology

deOld Frenchun-, reverse

+noueFrenchto tie, knot

+mentFrenchaction or result

The pieces express an “untying”: a plot's complications are treated as a knot. Their resolution unties that knot, giving the word its sense of a story's final outcome.

In context

Reedsy6:26

reader to be able to kind of take a sigh of relief and spend a final moment with the character before the story ends you can do that in the denouement

What is The Denouement, And How to Write One

More examples

The novel's denouement reveals what happens to the missing child.
The bitter dispute reaches its denouement when both sides sign the agreement.
Her mysteries have satisfying denouements that tie up every loose end.

Forms

denouement · denouements

Similar words

resolution: Emphasizes settling a problem, not necessarily a story's final stage.
conclusion: Marks an ending without necessarily resolving the story's conflicts.
outcome: Names the final result rather than how complications are resolved.