subplot

American  

[suhb-plot] / ˈsʌbˌplɒt /

noun

1. a secondary or subordinate plot, as in a play, novel, or other literary work; underplot.

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subplot British  

/ ˈsʌbˌplɒt /

noun

1. a subordinate or auxiliary plot in a novel, play, film, etc

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Etymology

Origin of subplot

First recorded in 1915–20; sub- + plot

Example Sentences

She and Grace exchange a few looks so fraught with meaning that you almost wonder if a romantic subplot got cut.

From Los Angeles Times

One subplot heavily relies on children’s nursery rhymes and playing them backwards to find hidden messages embedded in their melodies.

From Salon

Season 4, however, has turned the salmon from a background indulgence into a full-blown subplot.

From Salon

Especially for Jay, whose subplot concerns his desire for a musical career apart from this partnership, and includes him covertly planning to perform at an open-mic event in far-off Ottawa.

From The Wall Street Journal

That bloody chapter in Colombian history provided a factual basis for a subplot in “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” an epic novel by Gabriel García Márquez, who won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1982.

From Salon