subplot

1. 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.
   • 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. 2

   A subdivision of a plot of land, especially one used for an agricultural experiment.

   • 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.

syn. underplot

1. 1

   To provide (a story) with a subplot.transitive

   • 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.