plot
Pluralplots
Pluralplots
- 1The course of a story, made up of connected events that unfold gradually, sometimes in surprising ways.
Critics praised the novel's intricate plot.
The film's plot unravels through a series of flashbacks.
UsageUsually the plot of a book or film. People follow a plot, and a sudden change is a plot twist.
Similarstoryline
Note
Narratology often gives the word a sharper edge than everyday speech: plot as the order in which events are presented, distinct from the chronological story it may rearrange for effect. A General View of the Epic Poem, prefixed to Pope's Odyssey of 1725, treats plot and intrigue as near equals. It asks that the "winding up of the plot" follow probably from all that went before, an early demand for an ending the story has earned.
- 2A secret plan to achieve a goal, usually by illegal or otherwise questionable means.
Investigators uncovered a plot to assassinate the senator.
The rebels hatched a plot to seize the capital before dawn.
Usagea plot to + verb, or a plot against someone. Plots are usually hatched, uncovered or foiled.
Similarconspiracy, scheme, intrigue, machination
Note
The scheming sense has a long dramatic career. King Lear has a character who has "o'erheard a plot of death", and Addison's Cato (1713) dwells on the anxious time between "the birth of plots and their last fatal periods". Conspiracy, intrigue and machination are its neighbors. A plot can also be one piece of something bigger, as when an assassination is "part of a larger plot".
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- A character in King Lear says the quoted words; the speaker is Gloucester in Act 3, scene 6. folger.edu
- Joseph Addison wrote Cato, which was first performed in 1713. en.wikipedia.org
- Cato contains the quoted description of anxious moments between the birth and completion of plots; Sempronius speaks it. en.wikisource.org
- 3A small piece of ground marked out for a particular use, such as building, growing plants, or burial.
The developer divided the field into twelve building plots.
Each family was given a plot to farm.
UsageOften a plot of land or ground, or with a noun before it: a garden plot, a burial plot.
Note
The sense the word's history is about: late Old English plot already meant "a plot of ground", from a Germanic word for "a patch". Parcel is its closest synonym. It usually names ground marked out for one use, as in a building plot, a garden plot or a burial plot.
- 4To secretly plan a crime or other wrongdoing.
The officers plotted a coup against the government.
Several nobles met in secret to plot against the young king.
Usageplot against someone, plot to do something, or plot a crime: they plotted to seize power. Spelled plotted, plotting.
- 5To mark points in their correct positions on a graph, chart, or map, or to draw a graph or curve from data or an equation.
Plot the coordinates carefully before drawing the curve.
The student plotted each measurement on the grid.
UsageYou plot points on a graph or map, or plot one value against another: temperature against time.
Note
On a chart it is the word for fixing where you are, as in "every five minutes they plotted their position". An older, looser use appears in Richard Carew's Survey of Cornwall (1602), which "plotteth down Cornwall as it now standeth": there the verb means setting a whole county down on the page in words, not marking points on a map.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Richard Carew wrote The Survey of Cornwall, published in 1602. catalogue.etoncollege.com
- Carew's work contains the quoted wording. gutenberg.org
- In context, Carew describes his written account of Cornwall. This is a figurative description of his prose survey, not evidence of marking positions on a map. gutenberg.org
- 6A graph or diagram, drawn by hand or produced by a machine or computer.
The scatter plot revealed a clear upward trend.
Researchers compared several plots side by side.
UsageOften after a word for its type: scatter plot, box plot. A plot of the results shows them.
Note
On a plotting display the word can name what appears on the chart rather than the chart itself. A pilot in Mark Chambers and Tony Holmes's Nakajima B5N 'Kate' and B6N 'Jill' Units (2017) flies out "to meet a strong plot of aircraft 30 miles from the coast". There the mark stands for the formation it represents, a natural extension of marking a point on a chart.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Mark Chambers and Tony Holmes wrote Nakajima B5N ‘Kate’ and B6N ‘Jill’ Units, first published in 2017. ospreypublishing.com
- The book quotes a pilot instructed to fly out to meet a strong plot of aircraft 30 miles from the coast. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 7To design the chain of events that forms the storyline of a novel, film, play, or game.
Many novelists plot each chapter on index cards before they start drafting.
The season was plotted so tightly that every episode set up the next one.
UsageOften in the passive with an adverb of craft: a tightly plotted novel, a season well plotted, plotted chapter by chapter.
Note
This is the writer's verb, the work that produces the story sense of the noun. Context keeps it apart from the conspirator's verb: when a crime novelist plots a murder, the murder happens only on the page.
- 8A plan or the purpose behind an action.
no other plot in their religion but serve God and save their souls
1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living.Similarplan, design, project, blueprint
Note
The neutral plan, with no wrongdoing implied. Jeremy Taylor's The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying says the devout have "no other plot in their religion but to serve God and save their souls". Design is the close synonym. Where the conspiratorial sense suggests something hidden and questionable, this one simply means an aim.
- 9The attractive physical features of a fictional character; good looks or assets.
Half the comments praised the character's plot rather than the actual storyline.
Fans joked that the heroine's new swimsuit outfit gave her far more plot than the story ever did.
UsageOften in the joking phrase for the plot: watching a show just for the plot. It takes no a: plenty of plot.
Note
Fandom slang that works as a wink: praising a character's "plot" pretends to admire the storyline while meaning the body. The pun on the storytelling sense is the whole joke, so it belongs in fan comment and banter, not in neutral writing.
- 10Involvement or participation in a scheme or conspiracy.
And when Christ saith, Who marries the divorced commits adultery, it is to be understood, if he had any plot in the divorce.
1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce - 11Skill in contrivance; the ability to scheme or intrigue.
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Practice
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Origin
From Middle English "plot," from late Old English "plot" ("a plot of ground"), of uncertain origin: perhaps from Proto-Germanic, or from a misdivision of Old English "land-splott" ("a small piece of land"). Compare Middle Low German "plet" ("patch, strip of cloth"), German "Bletz" ("rags, strip of land"), and possibly Gothic "plat" ("a patch, rags").
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- The word descends through Middle English plot from Old English plot, meaning a plot of ground. en.wiktionary.org
- Proto-Germanic descent is only a possibility; an alternative explanation derives plot by rebracketing Old English land-splott. en.wiktionary.org
- The ultimate origin is uncertain. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle Low German plet and German Bletz, with the stated meanings, are related forms. en.wiktionary.org
- Gothic plat denotes a patch or cloth and is possibly related. en.wiktionary.org