different between subplot vs plot

English

Etymology

sub- +? plot

Noun

subplot (plural subplots)

1. A plot within a story, subsidiary to the main plot.
   • 1978, R.B. Lee & R. Misiorowski, Script Models: A Handbook for the Media Writer,

     Subplot, a story line enclosed within the principal story to provide relief from the main plot's tension, add character dimension, etc.

   • 1998: Stephen Roy Miller, The Taming of a Shrew: the 1594 quarto

     Structurally, the two most variant scenes (outside of Scene ii) are Scenes 3 and 4 in which the compiler works out the variant subplot.

   • 2001: Dennis O'Neil, The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics

     In a sense, Superman's romance with Lois Lane was a subplot and [...]

   • 2001, Nancy Arbuthnot Johnson, Vic Neufield, Forging Links for Health Research,

     But this story has a subplot — a subplot about fairness and how people have divergent levels of access to knowledge and resources.

2. A subdivision of a plot of land, especially one used for an agricultural experiment.
   • 1996: The American Midland Naturalist, published by the University of Notre Dame

     [...] on sixteen 8/10-acre plots (12.8 acres) well distributed over the area. [...] A 1/160-acre subplot was established in a randomly chosen corner of each [...]

   • 1999, E. K. Sadanandan Nambiar, Christian Cossalter, Site Management and Productivity in Tropical Plantation Forest,

     There are 72 trees in each plot (6x12) and 36 trees in each subplot.

   • 2002, M. Boya Edwards, Proceedings for the Eight Biennial Southern Silvicultural Research Conference,

     Hardwood and shrub stems (besides gallberry) were counted by species and measured for total height (if greater than 2 ft) on 3 strip plots per subplot that were 0.01 acre […]

Synonyms

• underplot

Translations

Verb

subplot (third-person singular simple present subplots, present participle subplotting, simple past and past participle subplotted)

1. (transitive) To provide (a story) with a subplot.
   • 1965, Percival Hunt, The Gift of the Unicorn: Essays on Writing (page 70)

     In the pictures of places, too, an author uses economy; and for his plot, complicated and subplotted as it may seem, he cannot count on having vast stretches of eternity in which to elaborate forever.

English

Etymology

From Middle English plot, plotte, from Old English plot (“a plot of ground”), from Proto-Germanic *plataz, *platjaz (“a patch”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Middle Low German plet (“patch, strip of cloth, rags”), German Bletz (“rags, bits, strip of land”), Gothic ???????????????????? (plats, “a patch, rags”). See also plat. See also complot for an influence on or source of the "secret plan" sense.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pl?t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pl?t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Noun

plot (plural plots)

1. (authorship) The course of a story, comprising a series of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means. [from 1640s]

   Synonym: storyline

   • c. 1725, Alexander Pope, View of the Epic Poem

2. An area or land used for building on or planting on. [from 1550s]

   Synonym: parcel

3. A graph or diagram drawn by hand or produced by a mechanical or electronic device.
4. A secret plan to achieve an end, the end or means usually being illegal or otherwise questionable. [from 1580s]

   Synonyms: conspiracy, scheme

5. Contrivance; deep reach thought; ability to plot or intrigue.
   • a. 1669, John Denham, On Mr Thomas Killigrew's Return from Venice, and Mr William Murrey's from Scotland

6. Participation in any stratagem or conspiracy.
7. A plan; a purpose.
   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

plot (third-person singular simple present plots, present participle plotting, simple past and past participle plotted)

1. (transitive) To conceive (a crime, etc).

2. (transitive) To trace out (a graph or diagram).

3. (transitive) To mark (a point on a graph, chart, etc).
   • 1602, Richard Carew, Survey on Cornwall

4. (intransitive) To conceive a crime, misdeed, etc.

Synonyms

• (contrive): becast
• (conceive a crime, etc): scheme
• (an area of land): lot

Derived terms

• replot

Translations

Anagrams

• OLTP, PTOL, lopt, polt

Albanian

Etymology

From plotë.

Adverb

plot

1. full, fully, full of

Czech

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *plot?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?plot]

Noun

plot m

1. fence

Declension

Derived terms

• živý plot m

Related terms

• oplotit

Further reading

• plot in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• plot in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?t

Verb

plot

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of plotten
2. imperative of plotten

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plo/
• Rhymes: -o

Noun

plot m (plural plots)

1. traffic cone
2. cone used in slalom

Luxembourgish

Verb

plot

1. third-person singular present indicative of ploen
2. second-person plural present indicative of ploen
3. second-person plural imperative of ploen

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pl?t/

Noun

plot f

1. genitive plural of plota

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *plot?.

Noun

pl?t m (Cyrillic spelling ?????)

1. fence

Declension

Spanish

Noun

plot m (plural plots)

1. (story-telling) plot