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plot

[plot]
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noun
  1. a secret plan or scheme to accomplish some purpose, especially a hostile, unlawful, or evil purpose: a plot to overthrow the government.
  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), plot·ted, plot·ting.
  1. to plan secretly, especially something hostile or evil: to plot mutiny.
  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.
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verb (used without object), plot·ted, plot·ting.
  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.
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Origin of plot

before 1100; (noun) of multiple orig.: in sense “piece of ground,” Middle English: small area, patch, stain, piece of ground, Old English: piece of ground (origin obscure); in senses “ground plan, outline, map, scheme,” variant (since the 16th century) of plat1, itself partly a variant of Middle English, Old English plot; sense “secret plan” (from 16th century) by association with complot, in pejorative sense; (v.) derivative of the noun
Related formsplot·ful, adjectiveplot·less, adjectiveplot·less·ness, nounout·plot, verb (used with object), out·plot·ted, out·plot·ting.o·ver·plot, verb, o·ver·plot·ted, o·ver·plot·ting.pre·plot, verb (used with object), pre·plot·ted, pre·plot·ting.re·plot, verb (used with object), re·plot·ted, re·plot·ting.un·plot·ted, adjectiveun·plot·ting, adjectivewell-plot·ted, adjective

Synonyms

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1. intrigue, cabal. 9. brew, hatch, frame.

Synonym study

1. See conspiracy. 19. 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

devisesketchoperateconspirehatchcalculatecabalframecontrivedesigncolludeconcoctmachinatewangledraftcogitatefinaglemaneuverlayimagine

Examples from the Web for plotting

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • James Harlowe is plotting to revive the resentments of her family against me.

    Clarissa, Volume 3 (of 9)

    Samuel Richardson

  • We can't bear the plotting and undermining that takes place.

    Barnaby Rudge

    Charles Dickens

  • But the scheme has merit, and Galway and I are plotting to capture the movement from Griffiths.

    Changing Winds

    St. John G. Ervine

  • This was a terrible ending to his plotting that had never entered into his calculations.

  • He told us one evening how he had been delivered from those who were plotting his destruction.

    Things as They Are

    Amy Wilson-Carmichael

British Dictionary definitions for plotting

plot1

noun
  1. a secret plan to achieve some purpose, esp one that is illegal or underhanda 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. mainly US a diagram or plan, esp a surveyor's map
  5. lose the plot informal to lose one's ability or judgment in a given situation
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verb plots, plotting or plotted
  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
    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)
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Word Origin

C16: from plot ², influenced in use by complot

plot2

noun
  1. a small piece of landa vegetable plot
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verb plots, plotting or plotted
  1. (tr) to arrange or divide (land) into plots
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Word Origin

Old English: piece of land, plan of an area
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

Word Origin and History for plotting

plot

n.

Old English plot "small piece of ground," of unknown origin. Sense of "ground plan," and thus "map, chart" is 1550s; that of "a secret, plan, scheme" is 1580s, probably by accidental similarity to complot, from Old French complot "combined plan," of unknown origin, perhaps a back-formation from compeloter "to roll into a ball," from pelote "ball." Meaning "set of events in a story" is from 1640s. Plot-line (n.) attested from 1957.

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plot

v.

1580s, "to lay plans for" (usually with evil intent); 1590s in the literal sense of "to make a map or diagram," from plot (n.). Related: Plotted; plotter; plotting.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
plotting in Culture

plot

The organization of events in a work of fiction.

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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.