epilogue

noun

ep·​i·​logue ˈe-pə-ˌlȯg 

-ˌläg

variants or less commonly epilog

1

: a concluding section that rounds out the design of a literary work

2

a

: a speech often in verse addressed to the audience by an actor at the end of a play

also : the actor speaking such an epilogue

b

: the final scene of a play that comments on or summarizes the main action

3

: the concluding section of a musical composition : coda

Did you know?

From its Greek roots, epilogue means basically "words attached (at the end)". An epilogue often somehow wraps up a story's action, as in the one for a famous Shakespeare play that ends, "For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo". In nonfiction books, we now often use the term afterword instead of epilogue, just as we now generally use foreword instead of prologue. Movies also often have a kind of epilogue--maybe a scene after the exciting climax when the surviving lovers meet in a café to talk about their future. The epilogue of a musical composition, after all the drama is over, is called the coda (Italian for "tail").

Examples of epilogue in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Instead, the book’s epilogue jumps ahead to 2195 and reveals that the main narrative of the novel is a transcription of audio tapes discovered long after the fall of Gilead that are being presented in an academic setting. —Lissete Lanuza Sáenz, StyleCaster, 9 Apr. 2025

There’s a photo epilogue of the real soldiers, and many of their faces are blurred. —Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 7 Apr. 2025

The trailer also teases a larger role for Quynh (Veronica Ngô), the immortal doomed to eternal drowning for witchcraft, who was previously rescued from an Iron Maiden at the bottom of the ocean in the first film's epilogue. —EW.com, 8 May 2025

In the epilogue, Brown provides ten actions that Black students can employ as well as Black communities overall. —Marybeth Gasman, Forbes.com, 5 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English epiloge, from Middle French epilogue, from Latin epilogus, from Greek epilogos, from epilegein to say in addition, from epi- + legein to say — more at legend

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for epilogue

• analog
• analogue
• catalogue
• decalogue
• demagogue
• dialogue
• homologue
• monologue
• pedagogue
• synagogue
• tagalog
• travelogue

Kids Definition

epilogue

noun

ep·​i·​logue

variants also epilog

ˈep-ə-ˌlȯg 

-ˌläg

1

: a final section that brings to an end and summarizes or comments on the action or characters of a story

2

: a speech often in verse addressed to the audience by an actor at the end of a play