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. The TV show kept audiences in suspense with a big cliffhanger at the end of the season finale.

2. A serial television or film production characterized by such endings. That show is a cliffhanger—the episodes never really have endings. That medical drama isn't particularly good, but it is a cliffhanger, so people just keep on watching it. If that show's a cliffhanger, then, nah, I'll pass—I like 30-minute episodes with neat resolutions.

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. If all of the sport's best make it to the final heat, it will definitely be a cliffhanger.

cliff-hanger

A situation whose outcome is in extremely suspenseful doubt until the last moment. The term comes from serialized adventure films popular in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s, in which, at the end of each installment, the hero or heroine is left in a very dangerous situation, sometimes literally dangling from a cliff. The rationale, of course, was to entice the audience to return for the next installment in order to see what happened. By the 1940s the term was being transferred to other suspenseful states of affairs—for example, “the election was a cliff-hanger.”

See also:

References in periodicals archive

Iaac said the series ended with a cliff-hanger or a situation where it was not clear what would become of her favourite character in the end.

Curiosity fuels Isaac's artistry

American viewers have already seen the cliff-hanger finale of the second series that leaves Cusick's character, Desmond, facing death.

Scots star happy to get Lost for a year

LOST fanatics should prepare to be driven crazy - as the second series ends with a cliff-hanger that would test the patience of a saint.

Still Lost! Must see.. LOST RTE Two, Monday 10pm

Well, it certainly isn't at the end of Invasion (Channel 4, Sunday), which predictably ends in a cliff-hanger after its 22-week run.

SHERIFF'S AGONISING DILEMMA

The tug-of-war between light and dark builds to a cliff-hanger finale that brilliantly sets up the next film, Day Watch.

Visually stunning fantasy dazzles

Fox-Pitt kept his nerve in a cliff-hanger finish as the two fences he had in hand unexpectedly tumbled but he triumphed in the showjumping phase with under a fence to spare.

EQUESTRIANISM

By contrast, the game at Catterick seemed like a cliff-hanger. Simon Marshall set the home side on the road to victory against WILTON, beating Paul Greenmon in the top match.

Whitewash gives lift to Blackwell

Written succinctly, precisely and unsentimentally but with style and structure, piling on cliff-hanger upon cliff-hanger, you emerge from the book feeling you have been as close an observer of a war as you are ever likely to be: Even though we know how it ends, it is gripping stuff, full of meticulously disinterred detail and acutely sketched personalities.

Six Days: How the 1967 War Shaped the Middle East

Of course, the real cliff-hanger in this chase is whether the state will protect artists' independence--not their freedom of speech but their right to use images for free.

1000 words: Liam Gillick and Philippe Parreno talk about "Briannnnnn and Ferryyyyyy"

As difficult as marriage is, I'm better for having risked jumping the broom and throwing myself headlong into this cliff-hanger called marital union.

Living passionately

This hook is known variously as a grappling hook, skyhook, and cliff-hanger.

Mouth gag extension device

That was another huge event, with another 100 heads of state, another cliff-hanger, another event that got huge publicity around the world, with another Bush in the White House.

Disaster averted, opportunity missed: award-winning environmental journalist Geoffrey Lean has seen Earth Summits come and go. On his return from Johannesburg in September, he spoke at a meeting at the Initiatives of Change centre in London. (Earth Summit)

But each year still ends with a financial cliff-hanger. As many other arts organizations must these days, The Yard struggles to continue its mission.

The Yard @ 25: dancing into the future

Another cliff-hanger came during the third space walk, on Dec.

Repairing Hubble: now a waiting game