as in thriller
something (as a close contest) that induces much suspense as to its outcome
finally, a Super Bowl game that turned out to be a real cliff-hanger
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Recent Examples of cliff-hanger
And many have speculated that Netflix’s vast trove of data informs certain narrative habits on its shows (cliff-hangers to encourage bingeing, for example, and frequent restating of plot points to engage viewers distracted by their phones).
—
Geoff Colvin, Fortune, 13 Mar. 2026
Nonesuch ends not with a cliff-hanger, exactly, but with a transformation that necessitates a follow-up.
—Literary Hub, 12 Mar. 2026
The latest cliff-hanger, which saw Netflix ceding the bidding war to Paramount late Thursday, had Hollywood and the media worlds agog.
—Rebecca Keegan, NBC news, 27 Feb. 2026
That film ended on a massive cliff-hanger, meaning a lot of people have been waiting to see what happens after Peter Parker makes the difficult decision to erase his identity from the world.
—Brent Lang, Variety, 5 Jan. 2026
The show remains compulsively watchable; each episode ends on a cliff-hanger.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 26 Dec. 2025
Angus Cloud, who played drug dealer Fezco, died after season two; the second season ended on a major cliff-hanger involving his character.
—Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 17 Oct. 2025
For now, Mars keeps its secrets, and Bright Angel stays a cliff-hanger.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 11 Sep. 2025
Which means there are some major cliff-hangers to obsess over for the next few weeks.
—Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 11 Aug. 2025
Geoff Colvin, Fortune, 13 Mar. 2026
Nonesuch ends not with a cliff-hanger, exactly, but with a transformation that necessitates a follow-up.
—Literary Hub, 12 Mar. 2026
The latest cliff-hanger, which saw Netflix ceding the bidding war to Paramount late Thursday, had Hollywood and the media worlds agog.
—Rebecca Keegan, NBC news, 27 Feb. 2026
That film ended on a massive cliff-hanger, meaning a lot of people have been waiting to see what happens after Peter Parker makes the difficult decision to erase his identity from the world.
—Brent Lang, Variety, 5 Jan. 2026
The show remains compulsively watchable; each episode ends on a cliff-hanger.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 26 Dec. 2025
Angus Cloud, who played drug dealer Fezco, died after season two; the second season ended on a major cliff-hanger involving his character.
—Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 17 Oct. 2025
For now, Mars keeps its secrets, and Bright Angel stays a cliff-hanger.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 11 Sep. 2025
Which means there are some major cliff-hangers to obsess over for the next few weeks.
—Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 11 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cliff-hanger
thriller
Noun
-
The ground zero of all stories of literary fandom begins and ends with Misery, whose characters were immortalized by Kathy Bates and James Caan in the movie adaptation of this psychological thriller.—
Laura Zigman,
PEOPLE,
2 May 2026
-
His portrayal of best-selling thriller writer Greg Russo — adrift in a New England college after a disastrous campus speaking engagement — lands in that sweet spot between comedy and drama that has increasingly defined the modern Emmy landscape.—
Clayton Davis,
Variety,
2 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cliff-hanger.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cliff-hanger. Accessed 8 May. 2026.
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