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Noun: peripeteia  ,pe-ru-pi'tI-u
  1. A sudden and unexpected change of fortune or reversal of circumstances, especially in a literary work
    "a peripeteia swiftly turns a routine sequence of events into a story worth telling";
    - peripetia [rare], peripety [rare]

Derived forms: peripeteias

Type of: surprise, turn-up [Brit, informal]

Encyclopedia: Peripeteia