"cliffhang" meaning in English

See cliffhang in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: cliffhangs [present, singular, third-person], cliffhanging [participle, present], cliffhung [participle, past], cliffhung [past], cliff-hang [alternative]
Etymology: Back-formation of cliffhanger. Etymology templates: {{back-form|en|cliffhanger}} Back-formation of cliffhanger Head templates: {{en-verb|cliffhangs|cliffhanging|cliffhung}} cliffhang (third-person singular simple present cliffhangs, present participle cliffhanging, simple past and past participle cliffhung)
  1. (intransitive) To be in suspense. Tags: intransitive

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cliffhanger"
      },
      "expansion": "Back-formation of cliffhanger",
      "name": "back-form"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Back-formation of cliffhanger.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cliffhangs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cliffhanging",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cliffhung",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cliffhung",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cliff-hang",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cliffhangs",
        "2": "cliffhanging",
        "3": "cliffhung"
      },
      "expansion": "cliffhang (third-person singular simple present cliffhangs, present participle cliffhanging, simple past and past participle cliffhung)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English back-formations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009 February 1, Clare Clark, “An Appetite for Venice”, in New York Times:",
          "text": "With furtive references to Gnostic gospels and a cast of characters that includes a beautiful blond novice (with whom Luciano fancies himself in love), a corrupt council of cardinals, a syphilitic doge and the brutal Cappe Nere, or secret police, all abroad in Venice’s sinister maze of watery alleyways, the scene looks set for a cliffhanging thriller in the style of “The Da Vinci Code.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be in suspense."
      ],
      "id": "en-cliffhang-en-verb-VRKJCtP3",
      "links": [
        [
          "suspense",
          "suspense"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To be in suspense."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "cliffhang"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cliffhanger"
      },
      "expansion": "Back-formation of cliffhanger",
      "name": "back-form"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Back-formation of cliffhanger.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cliffhangs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cliffhanging",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cliffhung",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cliffhung",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cliff-hang",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cliffhangs",
        "2": "cliffhanging",
        "3": "cliffhung"
      },
      "expansion": "cliffhang (third-person singular simple present cliffhangs, present participle cliffhanging, simple past and past participle cliffhung)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English back-formations",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English lemmas",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009 February 1, Clare Clark, “An Appetite for Venice”, in New York Times:",
          "text": "With furtive references to Gnostic gospels and a cast of characters that includes a beautiful blond novice (with whom Luciano fancies himself in love), a corrupt council of cardinals, a syphilitic doge and the brutal Cappe Nere, or secret police, all abroad in Venice’s sinister maze of watery alleyways, the scene looks set for a cliffhanging thriller in the style of “The Da Vinci Code.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be in suspense."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "suspense",
          "suspense"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To be in suspense."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "cliffhang"
}

Download raw JSONL data for cliffhang meaning in English (1.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-18 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-02 using wiktextract (f2d86ce and 633533e). 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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