marplot
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of marplot
First recorded in 1700–10; mar + plot. Marplot was a character in a farce, The Busie Body (1709), by Susanna Centlivre, circa1667–1723, English actress, poet, and playwright
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Humpty is Puss’ childhood frenemy: pal, rival and seemingly inept marplot to our hero’s suave efficiency in a crisis.
From Time • Oct. 28, 2011
Sporting heiress airs, a cruel gash of lipstick and a series of killer frocks in the 1948 A Date with Judy, Taylor plays snooty Carol, the marplot to Jane Powell's swell-town girl.
From Time • Apr. 14, 2011
Sporting heiress airs, a cruel gash of lipstick and a series of killer frocks in the 1948 A Date With Judy, Taylor has the role of snooty Carol, the marplot to Jane Powell's swell-town girl.
From Time • Mar. 23, 2011
As poisonous a moppet as ever twisted a playmate's arm, Mary is a prodigal liar, an incorrigible marplot, the school's petted problem child.
From Time Magazine Archive
They were unaware that Fate is a sad marplot, and that if we plan a matter in a certain way, it will surely come out quite otherwise.
From The Curse of Koshiu A Chronicle of Old Japan by Wingfield, Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
