as in intrigue
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Recent Examples of counterplot
Don Aucoin, BostonGlobe.com, 31 July 2019
There’s something comforting about the normalcy of plot and counterplot, action and intrigue.
—Mike Hale, New York Times, 13 Jan. 2017
Noun
Bit by bit, the castle at Elsinore (broodingly rendered by scenic designer Lee Savage) turns into a stage for life-and-death plots and counterplots.
—Don Aucoin, BostonGlobe.com, 31 July 2019
There’s something comforting about the normalcy of plot and counterplot, action and intrigue.
—Mike Hale, New York Times, 13 Jan. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for counterplot
Noun
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Each of the eight episodes packs on the intrigue; suspects and red herrings pile up while Biel and Banks trade barbs.—
Matt Cabral,
Entertainment Weekly,
10 Apr. 2026
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The other area of intrigue surrounds just what sort of role 16-year-old Max Dowman might play in the run-in.—
James McNicholas,
New York Times,
10 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Writing the book was a delight, from research to character development to plotting to drafting.—
Lee Kelly,
PEOPLE,
12 Apr. 2026
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Russian secret services have plotted to interfere and tip the election in Orbán’s favor, according to numerous media reports including by The Washington Post.—
Justin Spike,
Fortune,
12 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Naturally, the kids are sensitive enough to their parents’ machinations to feel psychologically broken by them.—
Scott Tobias,
Vulture,
12 Apr. 2026
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So far, Senate Republicans have shown less enthusiasm for condemning Daines’ machinations.—
Michelle Cottle,
Mercury News,
9 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Artist Lauren Halsey has been dreaming and scheming on this sculpture park for 17 years.—
Julissa James,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Apr. 2026
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Lobbyists and special interests are constantly scheming to defeat the will of the majority.—
Mary Nichols,
Mercury News,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
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In the Television Academy's Miami Vice oral history, Johnson revealed the show’s cutting-edge content was made possible by simple subterfuge.—
Declan Gallagher,
Entertainment Weekly,
13 Apr. 2026
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The trio went to great lengths to perpetrate the subterfuge, the indictment claims, including using hair dryers to remove packaging labels that were then reaffixed to thousands of fake replica servers.—
Amanda Gerut,
Fortune,
7 Apr. 2026
Verb
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But in the midst of conspiring, Yusuf doesn't realize that the Italians killed Ivan and Andrei, as well as the cartel.—
Francesca Gariano,
PEOPLE,
10 Apr. 2026
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First government cooperating witness John is the first of six government cooperating witnesses to testify at the trial of four South Florida men charged with conspiring to kidnap and kill Haiti’s president.—
Jacqueline Charles,
Miami Herald,
10 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Alfortish had been disbarred after pleading guilty, in 2011, to a conspiracy charge relating to his tenure as the president of a nonprofit, the Louisiana Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, which advocates on behalf of professionals in the horse-racing business.—
Patrick Radden Keefe,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
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They were also charged with multiple counts of conspiracy, endangerment and possession of explosives.—
Sharon Bernstein,
Sacbee.com,
11 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Her early death, after an illness that the father initially contrives to ignore then notices just in time to capture her desperation in a fine sketch, leaves Mimí utterly disoriented, yearning only to achieve a level of self-control and detachment that will spare him their tumultuous struggle.—
Tim Parks,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
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New quarterback Anthony Colandrea brings a degree of swag that is not contrived.—
Mitch Sherman,
New York Times,
1 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Counterplot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/counterplot. Accessed 18 Apr. 2026.
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