cliffhanger

cliffhanger

1. An ending of a piece of fiction (e.g., a television episode, chapter of a book, a film, etc.) characterized by a dramatically suspenseful and uncertain end. A good summer book always has a cliffhanger at the end of each chapter so that you never want to put it down! Judging by that movie's cliffhanger, I'd say we'll be seeing a sequel coming out fairly soon.
2. A serial television or film production characterized by such endings. That show is a cliffhanger—the episodes never really have endings.
3. Any contest, competition, or other such situation in which the outcome is suspenseful and uncertain until the very end. The two teams have been neck and neck for the entire second half, and with two minutes left this match has become a real cliffhanger. This election is looking like a cliffhanger, and we won't be able to truly say who's won until all the votes are counted.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • light at the end of the tunnel
  • Who's calling?
  • sign off
  • anticipointment
  • get the short end
  • stick it out
  • make an end of (something)
  • cash up
  • draw to a close
  • end to end
References in periodicals archive
It's almost guaranteed each of these episodes will end with a cliffhanger.
Big screen cliffhangers date back to the silent film era when a serial called The Perils of Pauline had audiences perpetually anxious about the fate of the drama queen in the title.
The same kind of resurrection of male sensitivity shines through even in so mindless a movie as Cliffhanger, in which Sly Stallone tries to mumble deep sentiments as he recovers from a lapse of pure heroism--he failed to save a young woman's life--with the help of Janine Turner.
[USA], July 23 ( ANI ): Hinting at the fate of Archie Andrews following the season-2 cliffhanger, the first trailer for the upcoming third season of CW's Archie Comics drama 'Riverdale' was released at San Diego Comic-Con 2018.
"Wala namang nakalagay sa captions so we'll leave things at a cliffhanger muna," Daez added.
Lily Gilpin, 10, of Year 5, said: "I think sometimes it's the punctuation, say if you use an exclamation mark or if you put an ellipsis at the end of a sentence it can leave you on a cliffhanger."
If they showed one episode on one day and the concluding episode the next, we'd still be getting top entertainment - but with the added spice of a 23-hour wait worrying about Batman and Robin's cliffhanger.
Anyway, without spoiling it too much, crafty writers Veena Sud and Nic Pizzolatto manage to pull off a magnificent (yet slightly frustrating) hoodwink on their resolution-hungry audience in the final act - with the cliffhanger ending virtually guaranteeing large ratings for the premiere of s1 eason two.
READING Dan O'Neill's article ("Dallas cliffhanger had us all glued to the box", Echo, November 30), I, like millions of others, enjoyed the Dallas series and I thought then, and still do, that the theme music is unforgettable.
The original remains a triumph, not least the iconic climax with three Mini Coopers escaping through the sewers and the cliffhanger ending to end all cliffhanger endings.
And what a cliffhanger ahead of series six - Sophie's pregnant and Jez and Mark aren't sure which one of them is the dad.
For Grant, who won the national under 14 title in 2005, but lost a tense cliffhanger to Hampshire's Sian Medlow, in the final last year, victory was particularly sweet as she again faced Medlow, 15, and chalked up a confident 6-1 6-2 victory to take the title.
The story ends with a cliffhanger; readers will be simultaneously satisfied and clamoring for more.
The best line came from Margaret Jones, of Craig y Don, Llandudno with ' This episode I'm in is going to be a cliffhanger, you'll find us Butchers are no pushover.' This week, it seems like a bad hair day for this black Wensleydale sheep who looks on at the Eglwysbach Show You can send your witty efforts to Caption Competition, PeoplePost, Daily Post, PO Box 202, Vale Road, Llandudno Junction, Conwy LL31 3ZD or submit your entry online at www.icnorthwales.co.uk/ caption