Plot Meaning
/plɒt/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounThe course of a story, comprising a series of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means.
nounAn area or land used for building on or planting on.
Sentence Examples
Apart from the plot, the book interested me.
Their plot to start a fire was discovered by the police.
It's hard to follow the plot of the film.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The novel's ____ was full of unexpected twists and secret betrayals.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The novelist spent months developing the ____ before writing a single word of the actual story.
Word Origin & History
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”), and possibly Gothic 𐍀𐌻𐌰𐍄 (plat, “a patch, rags”). See also plat. See also complot for an influence on or source of noun sense 5. Noun sense 9 is a back-formation from for the plot.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"If the plot or intrigue must be natural, and such as springs from the subject, then the winding up of the plot must be a probable consequence of all that went before."
— c. 1725, Alexander Pope, View of the Epic Poem:
"I was told to fly out on a vector of 100 degrees to meet a strong plot of aircraft 30 miles from the coast."
— 2017, Mark Chambers, Tony Holmes, Nakajima B5N ‘Kate’ and B6N ‘Jill’ Units, page 32:
"I have o'erheard a plot of death."
— c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi]:
"O, think what anxious moments pass between / The birth of plots and their last fatal periods!"
— 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene iii, page 8:
"a man of much plot"
— a. 1669, John Denham, On Mr Thomas Killigrew's Return from Venice, and Mr William Murrey's from Scotland:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The novel's ____ was full of unexpected twists and secret betrayals.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The novelist spent months developing the ____ before writing a single word of the actual story.