underplot

A subplot; a plot that is not the main plot of a story.

Noun

  1. A subplot; a plot that is not the main plot of a story.
    • I have not been able to discover the source of the very curious underplot of The Captives. - 1882-89, A Collection Of Old English Plays, Vol. IV:
    • Thus, again to quote Mr. Homer Smith, it has been held that 'In general the pastoral incidents serve as an underplot, utterly foreign in spirit to the main plot.' - 1906, Walter W. Greg, Pastoral Poetry and Pastoral...
  2. A secret scheme or trick.

Origin

From under- + plot.

Forms

underplots

Verb

  1. To form secret schemes or plots.

Forms

underplots underplotting underplotted

Derived

underplotter