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plan

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verb

Synonym Chooser

How does the noun plan contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of plan are design, plot, project, and scheme. While all these words 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

When is design a more appropriate choice than plan?

While in some cases nearly identical to plan, design often suggests a particular pattern and some degree of achieved order or harmony.

a design for a new dress

When could plot be used to replace plan?

While the synonyms plot and plan are close in meaning, plot implies a laying out in clearly distinguished sections with attention to their relations and proportions.

the plot of the play

When is it sensible to use project instead of plan?

In some situations, the words project and plan are roughly equivalent. However, project often stresses imaginative scope and vision.

a project to develop the waterfront

Where would scheme be a reasonable alternative to plan?

The synonyms scheme and plan are sometimes interchangeable, but 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

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of plan
Noun
Across the country—and especially in the South—plans are well in the works for Thanksgiving meals that will both satisfy and delight guests. Abigail Wilt, Southern Living, 21 Oct. 2025 Her nationalist positions could heighten friction with China, while her expansive spending plans for the world’s fourth-largest economy will be closely watched by international investors. Efrat Lachter, FOXNews.com, 21 Oct. 2025
Verb
It was mentioned that Ali plans to keep his options open. Fernando Quiles Jr, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Oct. 2025 The club plans to exercise Perez’s contract option for the 2026 season and potentially look to sign him to an extension. Jaylon Thompson, Kansas City Star, 22 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for plan
Recent Examples of Synonyms for plan
Noun
  • Supporting the Army’s next phase The M-SHORAD Increment 4 effort is a major part of the Army’s broader modernization strategy.
    Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 21 Oct. 2025
  • The county added jobs beginning in July 2023 and new strategies to improve efficiency, according to the statement.
    Mary Ramsey, Charlotte Observer, 20 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Officials at the Water Reclamation Authority are pursuing new goals after the utility was officially released last year from a pair of longstanding legal agreements that required the utility to address sewer overflows, leading to major investments across the system.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 22 Oct. 2025
  • Before the judges revealed their scores, Leavitt told cohost Julianne Hough that her sole goal in week 6 was to redeem her week 5 stumble during a soulful contemporary routine dedicated to her husband.
    Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 22 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • You should also be prepared to replace worn hoses, especially for ranges that connect with flexible gas lines.
    Lauren Bengtson, Better Homes & Gardens, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Enduring hunger alongside heavy, unbelievable sounds of explosions, some of the relatives sheltering in our house decided to prepare their bags and head south.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 21 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • And the project is taking advantage of a loophole in Greenlandic law intended to ban oil drilling.
    Jordan Blum, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2025
  • Smokeless tobacco is considered anything from snuff, snus, chewing tobacco, moist snuff and any other tobacco intended to be used or consumed by any means.
    Dana Afana, Freep.com, 22 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Toni Townes-Whitley didn’t follow a step-by-step blueprint to reach the top of the defense industry.
    Jessica Coacci, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Gathering Communist Party elites will review China’s upcoming five-year plan, an economic blueprint whose direction is strictly dictated by top leadership in the authoritarian state.
    Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 20 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Swets, who has expertise with special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), formed Greenland Exploration with his investment and merchant banking firm, FG Nexus, and agreed to merge with March GL and find a suitable SPAC to take the company public.
    Jordan Blum, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2025
  • Sea lines of communication, or SLOCs, are the principal maritime routes between ports used for trade, military or other purposes.
    Ryan Chan, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • But when these relationships are designed to feel real, but only exist online, parents don’t realize how isolated today's kids can become when cut off from technology.
    Alyssa Goldberg, USA Today, 20 Oct. 2025
  • Scientists first used the approach to design a drug-delivery robot that could treat ulcers inside the body.
    Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 20 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Louise Hémon The jury would also like to acknowledge a director whose film transported us into an extreme landscape, and created an unsettling atmosphere that kept us contemplating the nature of lust, education, and violence.
    Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Deacon clatters off in his truck, leaving me to contemplate my new home.
    Rowan Jacobsen, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Plan.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plan. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.

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