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

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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

If this underplot is due to Shakspere, why is there none like it in all his works?

From A Letter on Shakspere's Authorship of The Two Noble Kinsmen and on the characteristics of Shakspere's style and the secret of his supremacy by William Spalding

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

One excuse is, that Shelley and Dr. Trench only took parts of these plays, not caring surely—who can?—for the underplot and buffoonery which stands most in the way of the tragic Dramas. 

From Letters of Edward FitzGerald in Two Volumes Vol. II by William Aldis Wright

Thunder and lightning are the fearful accompaniment of the song; and like faint antiphonal responses from the underplot come the voices of the wronged Edgar and the outraged Gloucester.

From An Introduction to Shakespeare by H. N. MacCracken

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