Meaning & use
epilogue
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Meaning
nouncountable
A short final part of a book, play, or film that comments on or concludes the story.
Grammar: Countable: an epilogue, two epilogues.
Patterns
- in the epilogue
- write an epilogue
- the epilogue to something
The novel ends with an epilogue set ten years later.
In the epilogue, the author explains what happened to the characters.
The film's epilogue shows the main character as an old man.
Word forms
| plural | epilogues |
|---|
Common combinations
- in the epilogue
- The mystery is solved in the epilogue.
- write an epilogue
- She decided to write an epilogue to wrap up the story.
- the epilogue to a book
- The epilogue to the book reveals the narrator's fate.
- a brief epilogue
- The author added a brief epilogue to the second edition.
Synonyms and how they differ
- afterword
- An afterword is a section at the end of a book, often by someone other than the author, while an epilogue is part of the story itself.
- conclusion
- A conclusion is the final part of a text that summarizes or ends it, while an epilogue often provides a narrative closure after the main story.
- postscript
- A postscript is an additional remark at the end of a letter or text, not a narrative section like an epilogue.
Opposites
Commonly confused: epilogue or prologue? epilogue or monologue?
epilogue vs prologue
A prologue comes at the beginning of a book and introduces the story, while an epilogue comes at the end and concludes it.
epilogue vs monologue
A monologue is a long speech by one person, not a final section of a book.
Practice
Where would you expect to find an epilogue?
Choose one answer.
An epilogue is a final section that comes after the main story, so it appears at the end of a book. The beginning would have a prologue, and the middle is the main text.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “epilogue”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.