different between anticipation vs cliffhanger

English

Etymology

From Latin anticipatio; compare with French anticipation.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /æn.t?s.??pe?.??n/, /æn.t?s.??pe?.??n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

anticipation (countable and uncountable, plural anticipations)

1. The act of anticipating, taking up, placing, or considering something beforehand, or before the proper time in natural order.
2. The eagerness associated with waiting for something to occur.
   • November 20, 1836, Samuel Thodey, The Honour Attached to Eminent Piety and Usefulness

     anticipation of that final hour which he had long contemplated as near at hand
3. (finance) Prepayment of a debt, generally in order to pay less interest.
4. (rhetoric) Prolepsis.
5. (music) A non-harmonic tone that is lower or higher than a note in the previous chord and a unison to a note in the next chord.
6. (obsolete) Hasty notion; intuitive preconception.

Synonyms

• expectingness

Hyponyms

• (anticipating, expectation): apprehension, dread; see also anxiety#Synonyms

Related terms

Translations

References

• anticipation in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• anticipation in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.ti.si.pa.sj??/

Noun

anticipation f (plural anticipations)

1. anticipation

Further reading

• “anticipation” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Alternative forms

• cliff hanger, cliff-hanger

Etymology

From cliff +? hanger, evoking the image of someone left hanging from a cliff, thereby having an uncertain fate.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?kl?f?hæ?.?(?)/

Noun

cliffhanger (plural cliffhangers)

1. (narratology) An ending or stopping point calculated to leave a story unresolved, in order to create suspense.
   • 2007, Hilary Hylton, "Filming Texas in a Good Light," Time, 2 Jul.:

     Back in the early 80s, the hit series Dallas kept the nation guessing with its season-ending cliffhanger "Who Shot J.R.?"

2. (by extension) An outcome which is awaited with keen anticipation, especially one which is delayed for a period of time or which is not known until the last minute.
   • 2008, Timothy Garton Ash, "Russia has run rings round the west," Guardian (UK), 28 Feb. (retrieved 2 Feb. 2009):

     This presidential election is such a cliffhanger. Will it be the rising star Dmitry "Obamovich" Medvedev? Or the veteran Gennady "McCainovich" Zyuganov?

Antonyms

• anticlimax

Derived terms

• cliffhang

Related terms

• cliffhanging

Translations

See also

• cliffhanger on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Dangler (plot device) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia