subplot

UK/ˈsʌb.plɒt/US/ˈsʌb.plɑt/

subplot noun: a plot within a story, subsidiary to the main plot.

Noun

subplot (plural subplots)

A plot within a story, subsidiary to the main plot.
- Subplot, a story line enclosed within the principal story to provide relief from the main plot's tension, add character dimension, etc.1978, R.B. Lee & R. Misiorowski, Script Models: A Handbook for the Media Writer
- Structurally, the two most variant scenes (outside of Scene ii) are Scenes 3 and 4 in which the compiler works out the variant subplot.1998, Stephen Roy Miller, The Taming of a Shrew: the 1594 quarto
A subdivision of a plot of land, especially one used for an agricultural experiment.
- [...] 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 [...]1996, The American Midland Naturalist, the University of Notre Dame
- There are 72 trees in each plot (6x12) and 36 trees in each subplot.1999, E. K. Sadanandan Nambiar, Christian Cossalter, Site Management and Productivity in Tropical Plantation Forest

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

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

An early edit of the film included a romantic subplot.
It’s kind of great, if you groove on Richard Brautigan and can dig a vermiculture subplot.
But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

Noun
plural	subplots
Verb
third-person singular present	subplots
present participle	subplotting
past participle	subplotted
past	subplotted

From sub- + plot.

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

What does subplot mean?: Subplot means a plot within a story, subsidiary to the main plot.
What part of speech is subplot?: Subplot can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce subplot?: Subplot is pronounced /ˈsʌb.plɒt/ (UK).
What is the plural of subplot?: The plural of subplot is subplots.

Adapted from Wiktionary: subplot (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “subplot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/subplot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.