subplot

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   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.

2. 2
   noun

   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 [...]

3. 3
   verb

   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.

Etymology

From sub- + plot.