plot

¹plot

noun \ˈplät\

Definition of PLOT

1

a : a small area of planted ground <a vegetable plot> b : a small piece of land in a cemetery c : a measured piece of land : lot

2

: ground plan, plat

3

: the plan or main story (as of a movie or literary work)

4

[perhaps back-formation from complot] : a secret plan for accomplishing a usually evil or unlawful end : intrigue

5

: a graphic representation (as a chart)

— plot·less \-ləs\ adjective

— plot·less·ness noun

Examples of PLOT

1. The plots are selling for $15,000 per acre.
2. They just bought a 12-acre plot of land.
3. The book's plot revolves around a woman who is searching for her missing sister.
4. The movie has a weak plot.
5. Police uncovered a plot to assassinate the prime minister.
6. The prime minister was the target of an assassination plot.
7. Her books are page-turners, and yet there is more going on in them than just the mechanics of a clever plot… —Robin McKinley New York Times Book Review, 17 May 1987
8. … as he stood before the great dripping department store which now occupied the big plot of ground where once had stood both the Amberson Hotel and the Amberson Opera House. —Booth Tarkington, The Magnificent Ambersons, 1918
9. When I returned with the pistol the table had been cleared, and Holmes was engaged in his favourite occupation of scraping upon his violin. “The plot thickens,” he said, as I entered… —Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, 1887

Origin of PLOT

Middle English, from Old English

First Known Use: before 12th century

Related to PLOT

Synonyms: conspiracy, design, intrigue, machination, scheme

Related Words: counterconspiracy, counterplot; frame-up; manipulation, subterfuge, trickery; artifice, contrivance, cover-up, dodge, draft, maneuver, stratagem, trick; cabal, confederacy, ring; game, gimmick, racket; ground plan, program, strategy, system; collusion, complicity, connivance, conniving, conspiration

see all synonyms and antonyms

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Synonym Discussion of PLOT

plot, intrigue, machination, conspiracy, cabal mean a plan secretly devised to accomplish an evil or treacherous end. plot implies careful foresight in planning a complex scheme <an assassination plot>. intrigue suggests secret underhanded maneuvering in an atmosphere of duplicity <backstairs intrigue>. machination implies a contriving of annoyances, injuries, or evils by indirect means <the machinations of a party boss>. conspiracy implies a secret agreement among several people usually involving treason or great treachery <a conspiracy to fix prices>. cabal typically applies to political intrigue involving persons of some eminence <a cabal among powerful senators>.

Other Literature Terms

apophasis, bathos, bildungsroman, bowdlerize, caesura, coda, doggerel, euphemism, poesy, prosody

Rhymes with PLOT

aught, baht, blot, bot, clot, cot, dot, ghat, grot, hot, jot, khat, knot, kyat, lot, lotte, Mott, motte, naught, not, pot, rot, scot, Scot, shot, skat, slot, snot, sot, spot, squat, stot, swat, swot, tot, trot, watt, Watt, what, wot, yacht