plot

Universal Words noun, verb noun 1 [C,U] the series of events which form the story of a novel, play, film/movie, etc: a conventional plot about love and marriage * The book is well organized in terms of plot. 2 [C] ~ (to do sth) a secret plan made by a group of people to do sth wrong or illegal: a murder plot * The rebels hatched a plot to overthrow the government. * Police uncovered a plot against the president. 3 [C] a small piece of land that is used or intended for a special purpose: She bought a small plot of land to build a house on. * a vegetable plot IDIOMS lose the plot (BrE, informal) to lose your ability to understand or deal with what is happening the plot thickens used to say that a situation is becoming more complicated and difficult to understand verb (-tt-) 1 ~ (with sb) (against sb) to make a secret plan to harm sb, especially a government or its leader: [V] They were accused of plotting against the state. * [VN] Military officers were suspected of plotting a coup. * She spends every waking hour plotting her revenge. * [Vtoinf] They were plotting to overthrow the government. 2 [VN] ~ sth (on sth) to mark sth on a map, for example the position or course of sth: The earthquake centres had been plotted on a world map. * He plotted a new route across the Atlantic. 3 [VN] ~ sth (on sth) to make a diagram or CHART from some information: We carefully plotted each patient's response to the drug on a chart. 4 [VN] ~ sth (on sth) to mark points on a GRAPH and draw a line or curve connecting them: First, plot the temperature curve on the graph. 5 [VN] to write the plot of a novel, play, etc: a tightly-plotted thriller