scheme

plan, design, plot, scheme, project mean a method devised for making or doing something or achieving an end. plan always implies mental formulation and sometimes graphic representation.

• • plans for a house

design often suggests a particular pattern and some degree of achieved order or harmony.

• • a design for a new dress

plot implies a laying out in clearly distinguished sections with attention to their relations and proportions.

• • the plot of the play

scheme stresses calculation of the end in view and may apply to a plan motivated by craftiness and self-interest.

• • a scheme to defraud the government

project often stresses imaginative scope and vision.

• • a project to develop the waterfront