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counterplot

[noun, verb koun-ter-plot; verb koun-ter-plot]
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noun

a plot directed against another plot.
Literature. a secondary theme in a play or other literary work, used as a contrast to or variation of the main theme.Compare subplot.

verb (used without object), coun·ter·plot·ted, coun·ter·plot·ting.

to devise a counterplot.

verb (used with object), coun·ter·plot·ted, coun·ter·plot·ting.

to plot against (a plot or plotter).

Origin of counterplot

First recorded in 1590–1600; counter- + plot
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for counterplot

plot, sedition, scheme, treason, outwit, thwart, blank, league, fix, cabal, trickery, hookup, frame, practice, connivance, intrigue, trick, game, perfidy, disloyalty

Examples from the Web for counterplot

Historical Examples of counterplot

  • The story of each year, with its plot and counterplot, I have told elsewhere.

  • The king is only, or he appears, tricksy because you compel him to wind and counterplot.

    Vittoria, Complete

    George Meredith

  • But the waters were seething now, stirred to their very lees by plot and counterplot.

    The Secret Witness

    George Gibbs

  • It was evident that I had been plunged into the center of intrigue, plot and counterplot.

    Blindfolded

    Earle Ashley Walcott

  • She was warned in time, and thereupon hatched a counterplot for his destruction.

British Dictionary definitions for counterplot

counterplot

noun

a plot designed to frustrate another plot

verb -plots, -plotting or -plotted

(tr) to oppose with a counterplot
(intr) to devise or carry out a counterplot
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012