cliffhanger

cliffhanger
a) An ending or stopping point calculated to leave a story unresolved, in order to create suspense.

Once upon a time the movie mecca teamed with redskins, and all of them made good livings in the many "horse operas" and "cliff hanger" serials of the industrys beginning.

b) An outcome which is awaited with keen anticipation, especially one which is delayed for a period of time or which is not known until the last minute.

Back in the early 80s, the hit series Dallas kept the nation guessing with its season-ending cliffhanger "Who Shot J.R.?"

See Also: cliffhanging

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  • Cliffhanger — wird heute hauptsächlich mit Fernsehserien, Seifenopern oder selten mit planvoll fortgesetzten Kinofilmen assoziiert. Der Begriff steht für den offenen Ausgang einer Episode auf ihrem Höhepunkt. Den Fortgang der Handlung beantwortet die nächste… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • cliffhanger — n. a contest whose outcome is uncertain up to the very end. [WordNet 1.5] 2. an episode of a drama that ends in suspense. [WordNet 1.5] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • cliffhanger — If something like a sports match or an election is a cliffhanger, then the result is so close that it cannot be predicted and will only be known at the very end …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • cliffhanger — ☆ cliffhanger or cliff hanger [klif′haŋ΄ər ] n. 1. an early type of serialized film in which each episode ended with a suspenseful climax, as the hero hanging from a cliff 2. any highly suspenseful story, situation, etc. cliffhanging adj. cliff… …   Universalium

  • cliffhanger — suspenseful situation, 1937, in reference to U.S. cinema serials, agent noun from CLIFF (Cf. cliff) + HANG (Cf. hang). In some cases, especially Westerns, the hero or heroine literally was dangling from a cliff at the end of an episode …   Etymology dictionary

  • cliffhanger — [n] something suspenseful close call, close shave*, narrow escape, shocker, spine chiller, squeaker*, thriller, white knuckle; concepts 410,679 …   New thesaurus

  • cliffhanger — ► NOUN ▪ a story or event that is full of suspense because its ending or outcome is uncertain …   English terms dictionary

  • cliffhanger — ☆ cliffhanger or cliff hanger [klif′haŋ΄ər ] n. 1. an early type of serialized film in which each episode ended with a suspenseful climax, as the hero hanging from a cliff 2. any highly suspenseful story, situation, etc. cliffhanging adj. cliff… …   English World dictionary

  • Cliffhanger — For other uses, see Cliffhanger (disambiguation). Poster of the 1914 Perils of Pauline , which popularized the term cliffhanger in the medium of film A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character… …   Wikipedia

  • Cliffhanger — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Cliffhanger (homonymie). Le terme « cliffhanger » est une expression anglophone qui désigne, dans la terminologie des œuvres de fiction, un type de fin ouverte visant à créer un fort suspense. On dira… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Cliffhanger — Para otros usos de este término, véase Cliffhanger (desambiguación). Los cliffhangers (literalmente colgante de un acantilado , que también se puede traducir como al borde del precipicio o al borde del abismo ) son las escenas que normalmente, al …   Wikipedia Español

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