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plot

American  

[plot] / plɒt /

noun

• plots
  plural

1. a secret plan or scheme to accomplish some purpose, especially a hostile, unlawful, or evil purpose.

   a plot to overthrow the government.

   Synonyms:

   cabal, intrigue

2. Also called storyline.  the plan, scheme, or main story of a literary or dramatic work, as a play, novel, or short story.

3. a small piece or area of ground.

   a garden plot;

   burial plot.

4. a measured piece or parcel of land.

   a house on a two-acre plot.

5. a plan, map, diagram, or other graphic representation, as of land, a building, etc.

6. a list, timetable, or scheme dealing with any of the various arrangements for the production of a play, motion picture, etc..

   According to the property plot, there should be a lamp stage left.

7. a chart showing the course of a craft, as a ship or airplane.

8. Artillery. a point or points located on a map or chart.

   target plot.

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verb (used with object)

• plots,
  present (3rd person singular)
• plotted,
  past participle,  past
• plotting
  present participle

1. to plan secretly, especially something hostile or evil.

   to plot mutiny.

   Synonyms:

   frame, hatch, brew

2. to mark on a plan, map, or chart, as the course of a ship or aircraft.

3. to draw a plan or map of, as a tract of land or a building.

4. to divide (land) into plots.

5. to determine and mark (points), as on plotting paper, by means of measurements or coordinates.

6. to draw (a curve) by means of points so marked.

7. to represent by means of such a curve.

8. to devise or construct the plot of (a play, novel, etc.).

9. to prepare a list, timetable, or scheme of (production arrangements), as for a play or motion picture.

   The stage manager hadn't plotted the set changes until one day before the dress rehearsal.

10. to make (a calculation) by graph.

verb (used without object)

• plots,
  present (3rd person singular)
• plotted,
  past participle,  past
• plotting
  present participle

1. to plan or scheme secretly; form a plot; conspire.

2. to devise or develop a literary or dramatic plot.

3. to be marked or located by means of measurements or coordinates, as on plotting paper.

plot ¹ British  

/ plɒt /

noun

1. a secret plan to achieve some purpose, esp one that is illegal or underhand

   a plot to overthrow the government

2. the story or plan of a play, novel, etc

3. military a graphic representation of an individual or tactical setting that pinpoints an artillery target

4. a diagram or plan, esp a surveyor's map

5. informal to lose one's ability or judgment in a given situation

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verb

1. to plan secretly (something illegal, revolutionary, etc); conspire

2. (tr) to mark (a course, as of a ship or aircraft) on a map

3. (tr) to make a plan or map of

4. 1. to locate and mark (one or more points) on a graph by means of coordinates

   2. to draw (a curve) through these points

5. (tr) to construct the plot of (a literary work)

plot ² British  

/ plɒt /

noun

1. a small piece of land

   a vegetable plot

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verb

1. (tr) to arrange or divide (land) into plots

plot Cultural  

1. The organization of events in a work of fiction.

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Synonym Usage

See conspiracy. Plot, conspire, scheme imply secret, cunning, and often unscrupulous planning to gain one's own ends. To plot is to contrive a secret plan of a selfish and often treasonable kind: to plot against someone's life. To conspire is to unite with others in an illicit or illegal machination: to conspire to seize a government. To scheme is to plan ingeniously, subtly, and often craftily for one's own advantage: to scheme how to gain power.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• plotlessness
  noun
• overplot
  verb
• outplot
  verb (used with object)
• preplot
  verb (used with object)
• replot
  verb (used with object)
• plotful
  adjective
• plotless
  adjective
• unplotted
  adjective
• unplotting
  adjective
• well-plotted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• plots
  plural

Participles

• plotting
  present
• plotted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• plot
  simple
• plots
  simple
• have plotted
  perfect
• has plotted
  perfect
• am plotting
  progressive
• are plotting
  progressive
• is plotting
  progressive
• have been plotting
  perfect progressive
• has been plotting
  perfect progressive

Past

• plotted
  simple
• had plotted
  perfect
• was plotting
  progressive
• were plotting
  progressive
• had been plotting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will plot
  simple
• will have plotted
  perfect
• will be plotting
  progressive
• will have been plotting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of plot

First recorded before 1100; the noun has multiple origins: in the sense “piece of ground,” Middle English: “small area, patch, stain, piece of ground,” Old English: “piece of ground” (origin obscure); in the senses “ground plan, outline, map, scheme,” variant (since the 16th century) of plat ¹, itself partly a variant of Middle English, Old English plot; in the sense “secret plan” (from the 16th century), by association with complot; the verb is derivative of the noun

Explanation

A plot is a scheme, a story, a map charting progress, or a piece of land (as for a garden). To plot is to devise a secret plan, order the events of the story, or track your movement on the map. You could make a whole movie based on the word plot. This could be the plot (story): An evil so-and-so hatches a secret plot (scheme) to follow the explorer to a legendary plot (patch) of land with buried treasure. The explorer plots (draws) the best route to the treasure, but the evil so-and-so steals the plot (map) and gets to the treasure first. What a great story. All that's left is to plot (arrange) the sequence of events for maximum suspense.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plot plots plotted plotting

This might be the moment to plot a California trip with more changing leaves and less traffic.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

The precision with which each woman is painted attaches the reader to the characters and the characters to the plot.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

Here’s a slight plot twist: Even the clinical gold standard leaves room for interpretation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

Likewise, Paxton valued a 42-acre plot of undeveloped land in Johnson County, south of Fort Worth, at between $15,001 and $50,000 last year.

From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2026

“Trying to clock out your service hours early?” he asks, voice sly like he’s catching me in some plot.

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

He had survived bandito ambushes and cutthroat plots, shipwrecks and crash-landings and high-sea duels.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

Berlin, a key backer of Ukraine, is also on high alert for sabotage plots linked to Russia.

From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026

Maurin didn’t have insurance for his pines, having tried to hedge his risk over the years by purchasing plots in different parts of the forest.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

The chart below plots this mean-reverting tendency of earnings growth rates.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026

So was the age of characters and plots.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

I’ve received a number of emails in recent weeks about The Prudent Speculator, which is the newsletter with the best 46-year record mentioned above and plotted in the chart.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026

The startup—last valued at $5.5 billion in 2024 in a secondary tender offer led by General Atlantic and Stripes—has plotted out a cluster of new stores in China.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026

Tournaments once so defined now blur into adulthood ambivalence, postcards plotted along the timeline of your life, the details growing grainy.

From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026

The performances are plotted in the chart below.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026

And never, though she dreamed and plotted as she scrubbed the iron kettles and churned the butter and bellowed up the fire, never a chance to take the calf money home.

From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson

Now, in early 1943, the 33-year-old Flynn — the country’s biggest movie star — was plotting his flight from the American justice system.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

And yet, the film fails to utilize either to its advantage, wasting great talent and a halfway-decent premise on mind-numbing dialogue, repetitive plotting and dour lighting.

From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026

Nonfarm payrolls data for July will be watched especially closely for clues to the Federal Reserve’s rate plotting path, as Chairman Kevin Warsh pivots the Fed away from providing forward guidance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Mexico and Peru announced the restoration of diplomatic ties on Friday, following a months-long split over the asylum bid of a former Peruvian official accused of coup plotting.

From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026

The rest of us clenched our teeth and held our tongues, but I could see Emma plotting revenge already, clasping her hands together behind her back, getting them nice and warm.

From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs

Related Words

• action
• design
• movement
• narrative
• scenario
• scene
• scheme
• story
• structure
• theme