underplot

American  

[uhn-der-plot] / ˈʌn dərˌplɒt /

noun

1. a plot subordinate to another plot, as in a novel.

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underplot British  

/ ˈʌndəˌplɒt /

noun

1. a subsidiary plot in a literary or dramatic work

2. an undercover plot

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Etymology

Origin of underplot

First recorded in 1660–70; under- + plot

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

underplot

The underplot in Sooky concerns Sooky's efforts to get into a juvenile club whose members wear uniforms and drill like soldiers.

From Time Magazine Archive

There is, however, a strange story, told with much circumstantiality, which gives an elaborate but incomprehensible account of a tragic underplot in connection with him.

From What was the Gunpowder Plot? The Traditional Story Tested by Original Evidence by John Gerard

The play, of course, has a farcical underplot which is only connected very slightly with the main story by Sir Tophas' ridiculous passion for Dipsas.

From John Lyly by John Dover Wilson

How is the Duel scene related to the underplot?

From Shakespeare Study Programs; The Comedies by Charlotte Endymion Porter

Now my Lord I am going to what I have stated as the underplot, respecting M'Rae, Sandom, Lyte, and Holloway.

From The Trial of Charles Random de Berenger, Sir Thomas Cochrane, commonly called Lord Cochrane, the Hon. Andrew Cochrane Johnstone, Richard Gathorne Butt, Ralph Sandom, Alexander M'Rae, John Peter Holloway, and Henry Lyte for A Conspiracy In the Court of King's Bench, Guildhall, on Wednesday the 8th, and Thursday the 9th of June, 1814 by William Brodie Gurney