plot
Americannoun
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plots
plural
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a secret plan or scheme to accomplish some purpose, especially a hostile, unlawful, or evil purpose.
a plot to overthrow the government.
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Also called storyline. the plan, scheme, or main story of a literary or dramatic work, as a play, novel, or short story.
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a small piece or area of ground.
a garden plot;
burial plot.
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a measured piece or parcel of land.
a house on a two-acre plot.
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a plan, map, diagram, or other graphic representation, as of land, a building, etc.
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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.
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a chart showing the course of a craft, as a ship or airplane.
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Artillery. a point or points located on a map or chart.
target plot.
verb (used with object)
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plots,
present (3rd person singular)
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plotted,
past participle, past
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plotting
present participle
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to plan secretly, especially something hostile or evil.
to plot mutiny.
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to mark on a plan, map, or chart, as the course of a ship or aircraft.
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to draw a plan or map of, as a tract of land or a building.
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to divide (land) into plots.
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to determine and mark (points), as on plotting paper, by means of measurements or coordinates.
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to draw (a curve) by means of points so marked.
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to represent by means of such a curve.
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to devise or construct the plot of (a play, novel, etc.).
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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.
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to make (a calculation) by graph.
verb (used without object)
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plots,
present (3rd person singular)
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plotted,
past participle, past
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plotting
present participle
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to plan or scheme secretly; form a plot; conspire.
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to devise or develop a literary or dramatic plot.
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to be marked or located by means of measurements or coordinates, as on plotting paper.
noun
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a secret plan to achieve some purpose, esp one that is illegal or underhand
a plot to overthrow the government
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the story or plan of a play, novel, etc
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military a graphic representation of an individual or tactical setting that pinpoints an artillery target
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a diagram or plan, esp a surveyor's map
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informal to lose one's ability or judgment in a given situation
verb
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to plan secretly (something illegal, revolutionary, etc); conspire
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(tr) to mark (a course, as of a ship or aircraft) on a map
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(tr) to make a plan or map of
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to locate and mark (one or more points) on a graph by means of coordinates
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to draw (a curve) through these points
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(tr) to construct the plot of (a literary work)
noun
verb
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
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plotlessnessnoun
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overplotverb
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outplotverb (used with object)
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preplotverb (used with object)
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replotverb (used with object)
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plotfuladjective
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plotlessadjective
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unplottedadjective
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unplottingadjective
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well-plottedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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plotsimple
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plotssimple
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have plottedperfect
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has plottedperfect
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am plottingprogressive
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are plottingprogressive
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is plottingprogressive
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have been plottingperfect progressive
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has been plottingperfect progressive
Past
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plottedsimple
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had plottedperfect
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was plottingprogressive
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were plottingprogressive
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had been plottingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing plot
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 2
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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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.
See Examples For:
Zeta-Jones said she had been looking forward to the opportunity to explore a female-driven plot that "encompasses empowerment, identity and redemption".
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Banal pandemic analogy aside, “The Last House” is similarly built around an intentionally repetitive plot and thrills that rarely manage to excite or surprise the viewer.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
But as the latest entry in a fantasy series—especially at the midway point of a planned five-book plot arc—its momentum feels curiously unhurried.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
For those who are watching the show for the plot, get ready to yeehaw about all the melodrama that’s about to hit your screen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
Michael O’Laughlen, a twenty-eight-year-old childhood friend of Booth’s, another former Confederate soldier and participant in the kidnapping plot, was also arrested on the seventeenth.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
He had survived bandito ambushes and cutthroat plots, shipwrecks and crash-landings and high-sea duels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 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
They recorded every plant species identified across the meadow and tracked changes within permanent survey plots.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
Initially, they made ends meet in part by selling off plots of their twenty-six acres where they’d raised animals and had some orchards.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
“Women are often expected to write quiet, intricate family dramas, but Chloe went ahead and wrote an unbelievably plotted science fiction novel.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Robin Brooks, a former Goldman Sachs currency strategist and current fellow at the Brookings Institution, plotted the weighted average of U.S. data surprises versus the 10-year U.S.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
Wu missed several station visits after he was too late at a transfer, but getting to see his partner successfully complete the route he plotted felt like a triumph nonetheless.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
What redeems this creakily plotted work is the showcase it provides for a company of savvy older actresses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
However, he was not altogether without hope, for he too had plotted an escape.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
And while that was certainly a part of Beyoncé’s calculus when plotting “Irreemplazable,” she has a personal attachment to Spanish music.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 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
Earlier, the interior ministry said security agencies had arrested several suspects accused of plotting to interfere with the electoral system.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
A Frenchman who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Mali for plotting an alleged coup in the West African country has now been granted a presidential pardon, it was announced on Thursday.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
I waited for him to take it up, to unravel once again his tale of plotting statesmen and deluded public, his great joke, his private toe hold on the world.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
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.
