grand finale

English

Etymology

From grand plus finale.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɡɹænd fɪˈnɑːli/

Noun

grand finale (plural grand finales)

1. (set phrase) The concluding event or development in a process, performance, or other series of events, made with a special flourish and often in a remarkable or spectacular manner.
   • 1810, Sir Walter Scott, Letter to the printer of the first edition of Lady of the Lake (from 1883 edition, edited by William J. Rolfe, Canto 6, line 605n):

     I send the grand finale, and so exit the Lady of the Lake from the head she has tormented for six months.

   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 27, in The Scarlet Pimpernel:

     [H]e felt more and more eager for the grand finale of this exciting chase after the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel.

   • 1986 October 6, “Thailand: Uneasy Lies the Head”, in Time, retrieved 29 July 2015:

     Beauty pageants are supposed to be Cinderella tales, where at the grand finale the queen sobs tears of joy while the losers hug her valiantly.

   • 2007 April 4, Lawrence Van Gelder, “Circus Review: Clowns, Daredevils and Plenty of Volume”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 July 2015:

     In keeping with the grand tradition of the Ringling Brothers Circus, this edition offers a cavalcade of elephants, glimpses of goats, leggy dancers, fireworks, acrobats and not one but two people, the husband-and-wife team Tina and Brian Miser, blasted out of a cannon in the grand finale.

   • 2023 July 5, Murtada Elfadl, “Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One review: Tom Cruise runs, jumps, and delivers again”, in AV Club‎^[1]:

     From a cat-and-mouse sequence at a busy airport to a long car chase through Rome to a grand finale aboard a runaway train, each action scene tops the one before it.

See also

• grand final

Further reading

• “grand finale”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.