different between subplot vs story

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?st??.?i/
• Rhymes: -???i

Etymology 1

From Middle English storie, storye, from Anglo-Norman estorie, from Latin historia, from Ancient Greek ??????? (historí?, “learning through research”), from ??????? (historé?, “to research, inquire (and) record”), from ????? (híst?r, “the knowing, wise one”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, know”). Doublet of history and storey.

Alternative forms

• storie (obsolete)

Noun

story (plural stories)

1. A sequence of real or fictional events; or, an account of such a sequence.

   Synonym: tome

   • 1673, William Temple, An Essay upon the Advancement of Trade in Ireland

     it must be exploded for fabulous, with other relics of ancient story.

   • June 1861, Edinburgh Review, The Kingdom of Italy

     Venice, with its unique city and its impressive story

2. A lie, fiction.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:lie

3. (US, colloquial, usually pluralized) A soap opera.

   Synonym: serial

   • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things

     He stood on the doorstep for a minute, listening for sounds inside the house — a radio, a TV tuned to one of the stories […]

4. (obsolete) History.
   • 1644, John Milton, Aeropagitica:

     […] who is so unread or so uncatechis'd in story, that hath not heard of many sects refusing books as a hindrance, and preserving their doctrine unmixt for many ages, only by unwritt'n traditions.

5. A sequence of events, or a situation, such as might be related in an account.

   Synonym: narrative

6. (social media) A chronological collection of pictures or short videos published by a user on an application or website that is typically only available for a short period.

Usage notes

• (soap opera): Popularized in the 1950s, when soap operas were often billed as "continuing stories", the term "story" to describe a soap opera fell into disuse by the 21st century and is now used chiefly among older people and in rural areas. Other English-speaking countries used the term at its zenith as a "loaned" word from the United States.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Welsh: stori

Translations

Verb

story (third-person singular simple present stories, present participle storying, simple past and past participle storied)

1. To tell as a story; to relate or narrate about.
   • 1648, John Wilkins, Mathematical Magick

     It is storied of the brazen colossus in Rhodes, that it was seventy cubits high.

Etymology 2

Probably as etymology 1, since historia already had this meaning in medieval Anglo-Latin. An alternative suggestion derives it from Old French *estoree (“a thing built, a building”), from estoree (“built”), feminine past participle of estorer (“to build”), from Latin instauro (“to construct, build, erect”).

Alternative forms

• storey (UK)

Noun

story (plural stories)

1. (obsolete) A building or edifice.
2. (chiefly US) A floor or level of a building; a storey.

   Synonyms: floor, level

   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, chapter I:

     The lower story of the market-house was open on all four of its sides to the public square.

3. (typography) Alternative form of storey

Translations

Usage notes

See storey.

References

Anagrams

• ryots, stroy, tyros

Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French estoree, past participle of estorer. Alternatively, the same word as storie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?st?ri?(?)/, /?st??ri?(?)/

Noun

story (plural storyes) (rare)

1. A level of a building.
2. A line of paddles on a ship.

Descendants

• English: story, storey

References

• “st?r?(e, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-04-05.

Etymology 2

From Old French estorie, estoire.

Verb

story

1. Alternative form of storie