"Chuck Cunningham syndrome" meaning in English

See Chuck Cunningham syndrome in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Etymology: Name after Charles “Chuck” Cunningham, a minor character in the 1970s sitcom Happy Days who disappeared without explanation in season three and was never mentioned again. Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} Chuck Cunningham syndrome (uncountable)
  1. (fiction, especially television) The unexplained disappearance or removal of a fictional character from the plot. Wikipedia link: Happy Days Tags: especially, uncountable
    Sense id: en-Chuck_Cunningham_syndrome-en-noun-leH2-B42 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Fiction, Television Topics: broadcasting, fiction, literature, media, publishing, television
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  "etymology_text": "Name after Charles “Chuck” Cunningham, a minor character in the 1970s sitcom Happy Days who disappeared without explanation in season three and was never mentioned again.",
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          "ref": "2013, Heide Goody, Iain Grant, How to Write a Collaborative Novel, Pigeon Park Press, →ISBN:",
          "text": "The modern novel, unlike the TV series, serialised novel or ongoing movie franchise does not need to carry the burden of unwanted plot threads. There should be no Chuck Cunningham Syndrome in your novel.",
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          "ref": "2025 September 12, Niall McVeigh, “Premier League drama is back with unfamiliar faces and shock returns”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
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        "(fiction, especially television) The unexplained disappearance or removal of a fictional character from the plot."
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (05c257f and 9d9a410). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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