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Plot vs Tract - What's the difference?

plot | tract | Related terms |

Plot is a related term of tract.


As nouns the difference between plot and tract

is that plot is the course of a story, comprising a series of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means while tract is an area or expanse.

As verbs the difference between plot and tract

is that plot is to conceive (a crime, etc) while tract is (obsolete) to pursue, follow; to track.

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 ----

    tract

    English

    Etymology 1

    From tractus, the perfect passive participle of (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An area or expanse.
    • an unexplored tract of sea
  • * Milton
    • the deep tract of hell
  • * Addison
    • a very high mountain joined to the mainland by a narrow tract of earth
  • A series of connected body organs, as in the digestive tract .
  • A small booklet such as a pamphlet, often for promotional or informational uses.
  • A brief treatise or discourse on a subject.
  • * Jonathan Swift
    • The church clergy at that writ the best collection of tracts against popery that ever appeared.
  • A commentator's view or perspective on a subject.
  • Continued or protracted duration, length, extent
  • * Milton
    • improved by tract of time
  • * 1843 ,
    • Nay, in another case of litigation, the unjust Standard bearer, for his own profit, asserting that the cause belonged not to St. Edmund’s Court, but to his in , involved us in travellings and innumerable expenses, vexing the servants of St. Edmund for a long tract of time
  • Part of the proper of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations, used instead of the alleluia during Lenten or pre-Lenten seasons, in a Requiem Mass, and on a few other penitential occasions.
  • (obsolete) Continuity or extension of anything.
    • the tract of speech
    (Older)
  • (obsolete) Traits; features; lineaments.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • The discovery of a man's self by the tracts of his countenance is a great weakness.
  • (obsolete) The footprint of a wild animal.
    • (Dryden)
  • (obsolete) Track; trace.
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
    • Efface all tract of its traduction.
  • * Shakespeare
    • But flies an eagle flight, bold, and forth on, / Leaving no tract behind.
  • (obsolete) Treatment; exposition.
    • (Shakespeare)
    Related terms
    * tractate noun

    Etymology 2

    From tractus , the participle stem of (etyl) trahere.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To pursue, follow; to track.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.i:
    • Where may that treachour then (said he) be found, / Or by what meanes may I his footing tract ?
  • (obsolete) To draw out; to protract.
    • (Ben Jonson)
    English syncopic forms ----