Synonyms of plotting

plotting 1 of 3

adjective

as in calculating

Related Words

• calculating
• covert
• surreptitious
• clandestine
• secret
• undercover
• furtive
• circular
• concealed
• stealthy
• circuitous
• roundabout
• treacherous
• designing
• Machiavellian
• fraudulent
• serpentine
• scheming
• hypocritical
• sneaky
• hugger-mugger
• deceptive
• oblique
• insincere
• unscrupulous
• deceitful
• backhanded
• underhanded
• dishonest
• underhand
• shifty
• double-dealing
• cunning
• mealy
• insinuating
• crooked
• astute
• shady
• slippery
• crafty
• facile
• subtle
• mealymouthed
• knavish
• wily
• two-faced
• glib
• devious
• artful
• shrewd
• sly
• tricky
• slick
• cagey
• smooth-tongued
• beguiling
• left-handed
• foxy
• cute
• guileful
• sharp
• dodgy

Dissimilar Words

• innocent
• plain
• obvious
• direct
• artless
• real
• public
• open
• guileless
• ingenuous
• simple
• unconcealed
• patent
• natural
• straightforward
• sincere
• unaffected
• undesigning
• outspoken
• honest
• frank
• candid
• forthright
• unvarnished
• unsophisticated
• childlike
• unpretentious
• unpretending
• aboveboard
• trusting
• impressionable
• unworldly
• simpleminded
• unstudied
• unforced
• plainspoken
• trustful

plotting

2 of 3

noun

as in scheming

Related Words

• scheming
• stealth
• secrecy
• design
• dirty pool
• deception
• duplicity
• dirty tricks
• treachery
• hypocrisy
• humbuggery
• deceit
• double-dealing
• fakery
• imposture
• quackery
• crookedness
• subterfuge
• dishonesty
• insincerity
• deceptiveness
• dissimulation
• shrewdness
• guile
• deviousness
• dupery
• sneakiness
• slyness
• cunning
• underhandedness
• trickery
• skulduggery
• chicanery
• craftiness
• deceitfulness
• shiftiness
• slickness
• slipperiness
• crookery
• artfulness
• gamesmanship
• wiliness
• jugglery
• oiliness
• wile
• shadiness
• caginess
• sharpness
• jiggery-pokery
• chicane
• guilefulness
• hanky-panky
• legerdemain
• artifice
• foxiness

Dissimilar Words

• sincerity
• artlessness
• ingenuousness
• guilelessness
• forthrightness
• directness
• openness
• candor
• plainness
• candidness
• plainspokenness

plotting

3 of 3

verb

present participle of plot

as in planning

to engage in a secret plan to accomplish evil or unlawful ends

mobsters were caught plotting to take over the company

Synonyms & Similar Words

• scheming
• planning
• conspiring
• colluding
• contriving
• conniving
• intriguing
• designing
• devising
• machinating
• engineering
• manipulating
• hatching
• concocting
• compassing
• brewing
• mapping
• maneuvering
• putting up
• jockeying
• counterplotting
• cooking (up)
• shaping
• framing
• laying out

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of plotting

Noun

Then again, there never was with risky plotting predicated on rotation health. — Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 19 Aug. 2026

In October, 2024, Navalna was found guilty, but of a lesser category of terrorist plotting, and sentenced to eight years in prison, rather than the fifteen that the prosecution had requested. — Joshua Yaffa, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2026

Where season three frustrated with its aimless pacing, its unruly plotting, its self-congratulatory strain of goodness, new showrunner Jack Burditt (30 Rock, Modern Family) dials back the worst of the show’s excesses. — Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 5 Aug. 2026

But when actually committed to screen, Stuart Fails is painful at nearly every turn, a grim death march through a series of overworn jokes and wall-spaghetti plotting made even less fun with each smugly metafictional turn. — Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 23 July 2026

Instead the episode begins with Spike (James Marsters) and Drusilla (Juliet Landau) plotting. — Ew Staff, Entertainment Weekly, 25 June 2026

Battle, conspiracy, plotting, and some new faces in the cast. — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 20 June 2026

The length exacerbates all the rest of the series' sins, including a lack of emotional depth, gratuitous suffering and violence, long stretches of boring, listless plotting and extraneous characters. — Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 4 June 2026

Which was widely panned for its unrealistic plot, laughable dialogue, and inexplicable plotting. — Ian Miller Outkick, FOXNews.com, 2 June 2026

Verb

The mathematics doctoral student is trying to convince authorities that a Silicon Valley billionaire is plotting domestic nuclear terrorism. — Monitor Reviewers, Christian Science Monitor, 21 Aug. 2026

Even the Cinerama Dome is plotting a comeback thanks to Sony and Alamo Drafthouse. — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 20 Aug. 2026

While plotting her vengeance, Catherine finds a rare safe space in the home of Alden (Way), a disabled young man whose late mother hired her to be his home-healthcare aide. — Glenn Garner, Deadline, 19 Aug. 2026

Charging documents revealed that the teens were allegedly plotting to rob Wright. — Adam Thompson, CBS News, 17 Aug. 2026

Which, again, is perfectly fine for parallel parking but not particularly helpful in trail course plotting. — Andrew P. Collins, The Drive, 12 Aug. 2026

New baby 2, plotting and planning, back to work, first draft. — Literary Hub, 11 Aug. 2026

European leaders have even floated a boycott of FIFA events, while execs behind closed doors are plotting rival tournaments that could leave Infantino on the outside looking in before the next election cycle. — Alejandro Avila Outkick, FOXNews.com, 11 Aug. 2026

But who hasn’t been certain that the world, or at least the group chat, is plotting against them? — Christopher Barnard, Vogue, 11 Aug. 2026