Definition of "denouement"

The denouement is the moment when all of the knots of a story are untied, […] But the denouement should not be confused with the end of a story.

2005, Lemony Snicket, The Penultimate Peril

Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55

In the sizzling two-hour denouement, for example, the music titan Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) discovered that he didn’t have a terminal illness after all (Dun-dun-DUN).

2015 March 19, Alessandra Stanley, “'Empire' Finale Review: A Sizzling End to Season One”, in New York Times‎

Some commentators have said one of the more recent fall-outs – over noise reduction specifications campaigned for by local residents – is a fitting denouement to what has been a humiliating drama.

2020, Kate Connolly, “'We were a laughing stock': Berlin airport finally finished as Covid bites”, in The Guardian‎

Boris Johnson’s time as prime minister has at last reached its denouement.

2022 July 7, Martha Gill, “Boris Johnson Made a Terrible Mistake: He Apologized”, in The New York Times‎