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Plot vs Outline - What's the difference?

plot | outline | Synonyms |

In transitive terms the difference between plot and outline

is that plot is to mark (a point on a graph, chart, etc) while outline is to summarize something.

plot

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The course of a story, comprising a series of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • 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.
  • An area or land used for building on or planting on.
  • A graph or diagram drawn by hand or produced by a mechanical or electronic device.
  • A secret plan to achieve an end, the end or means usually being illegal or otherwise questionable.
    • The plot would have enabled them to get a majority on the board.
    The assassination of Lincoln was part of a larger plot .
  • * Shakespeare
    • I have overheard a plot of death.
  • * Addison
    • O, think what anxious moments pass between / The birth of plots and their last fatal periods!
  • Contrivance; deep reach thought; ability to plot or intrigue.
  • * Denham
    • a man of much plot
  • Participation in any stratagem or conspiracy.
  • * Milton
    • And when Christ saith, Who marries the divorced commits adultery, it is to be understood, if he had any plot in the divorce.
  • A plan; a purpose.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
    • no other plot in their religion but serve God and save their souls

    Synonyms

    * (course of a story) storyline * (area) parcel * (secret plan) conspiracy, scheme

    Derived terms

    * Gunpowder Plot * lose the plot * plotless * subplot * the plot thickens/plot thickens

    Verb

    (plott)
  • To conceive (a crime, etc).
    • They had ''plotted a robbery.
  • To trace out (a graph or diagram).
    • They ''plotted'' the number of edits per day.
  • To mark (a point on a graph, chart, etc).
    • Every five minutes they ''plotted'' their position.
  • * Carew
    • This treatise plotteth down Cornwall as it now standeth.
  • To conceive a crime, misdeed, etc.
    • ''They were plotting against the king.

    Synonyms

    * (contrive) becast * (sense) scheme

    Derived terms

    * replot

    Anagrams

    * * English control verbs ----

    outline

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A line marking the boundary of an object figure.
  • The outer shape of an object or figure.
  • A sketch or drawing in which objects are delineated in contours without shading.
  • * Dryden
    • Painters, by their outlines , colours, lights, and shadows, represent the same in their pictures.
  • A general description of some subject.
  • A statement summarizing the important points of a text.
  • A preliminary plan for a project.
    • the outline of a speech
  • (film industry) A prose telling of a story intended to be turned into a screenplay; generally longer and more detailed than a treatment.

    • See also

    * silhouette

    Verb

    (outlin)
  • (lb) To draw an outline of something.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
    • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood. They dated from the previous century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the design.}}
  • (lb) To summarize something.
  • :
  • *
  • *:At her invitation he outlined for her the succeeding chapters with terse military accuracy?; and what she liked best and best understood was avoidance of that false modesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.

    • Anagrams

    * *