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

None of this ever accumulates much weight, however, since the conflicts are all dulled by the one-note absurdity of the farcical plotting. — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 29 Sep. 2026

Dense plotting and brutal conflict come together for memorably extravagant zeniths. — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 17 Sep. 2026

Amid a national cinema that has become internationally recognized for perverse plotting and deadpan absurdism, writer-director Alexis Alexiou‘s third feature stands out for its stark storytelling and earnest emotional intensity. — Guy Lodge, Variety, 30 Aug. 2026

Setting the film on the Canadian frontier rather than the American sets it apart from its peers, and the more languid pacing and character-driven plotting continue to distinguish it as a mannered classic. — David Faris, TheWeek, 21 Aug. 2026

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

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

Verb

Israeli Defense Forces said Bik was involved in plotting attacks and recruiting new members. — Arkansas Online, 30 Sep. 2026

All of this is unfolding during a polarizing presidential election between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of plotting a coup. — Dan Restrepo, Foreign Affairs, 30 Sep. 2026

In February 2021, Haitian police arrested a Supreme Court justice and others in the middle of the night, accusing them of plotting to overthrow the president. — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 30 Sep. 2026

Regardless of plotting, Diaz is an unquestionably methodical researcher, no surprise given his academic background. — Literary Hub, 29 Sep. 2026

The movie’s antihero, Doug (Will Brill), is a middle school theater teacher plotting his revenge against his ex-girlfriend Abigail (Gillian Jacobs), also a teacher — and her new boyfriend, the more charming Principal Brady (Rob Lowe). — Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 18 Sep. 2026

In other words, your friend may be absorbing your taste without plotting a hostile takeover of your life, Single White Female style. — Alesandra Dubin, Glamour, 17 Sep. 2026

In recent years, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine grinds on, NATO states have accused Russia of plotting sabotage attacks and other operations in Europe. — Joe Walsh, CBS News, 16 Sep. 2026

O’Kane shouts when Tom Brokaw announces that one of the men suspected of plotting the attack has been detained. — Jeff Goodell, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026