as in calculating
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as in scheming
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as in planning
to engage in a secret plan to accomplish evil or unlawful ends
mobsters were caught plotting to take over the company
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Recent Examples of plotting
John Warner, Chicago Tribune, 16 May 2026
For that, Quintrell turned directly to Austen’s own plotting.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 7 May 2026
Even the film’s critic-defying, pinky-swearing fanbase may be disappointed in the barebones production, jarring plotting, tired dialogue and ham-handed staging.
—Frank Rizzo, Variety, 23 Apr. 2026
But Goebel’s sharp dialogue, razor plotting and fiery sense of Los Angeles elevate his unconventional characters.
—Oline H. Cogdill, Sun Sentinel, 21 Apr. 2026
Pixels • One promising character disconnected from the plotting so far is Zach Galifianakis as Carl Bardolph, a client of JoAnne’s who made some untold fortune in the business, but has since turned into a bitter recluse.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 12 Apr. 2026
But despite Badio’s behind-the-scenes plotting, John insisted that the former official was not the one in charge of the operation.
—Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 10 Apr. 2026
His strategic planning and patience in taking control require proper plotting, which the sea-goat can do when invested in a project.
—Lisa Stardust, PEOPLE, 4 Apr. 2026
In its plotting and structure, this often feels less like a series than a two-hour movie that’s been stretched to fill eight 45-minute episodes on the rationale that the latter would be easier to greenlight than the former.
—Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 26 Mar. 2026
Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 17 May 2026
An Iraqi man accused of orchestrating nearly 20 terrorist attacks across Europe and plotting attacks on Jewish institutions in the United States has been brought to New York to face federal terrorism charges after what the FBI described as a major international operation.
—Louis Casiano , Jasmine Baehr, FOXNews.com, 15 May 2026
May 15, 2026 Share full article A commander of an Iraqi militia has been charged with plotting to attack Jewish sites in the United States, including a synagogue in New York, and carrying out attacks in Europe as part of a broader campaign of retaliation by Iran since the war began in February.
—New York Times, 15 May 2026
Awareness of risk from terror plots is high in the city after a 21-year-old Austrian man accused of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group pleaded guilty to plotting to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in 2024.
—ABC News, 14 May 2026
The individuals Turner initially trusts, colleagues and department heads, are the very ones plotting against him.
—Paul Fitzgerald, Rolling Stone, 14 May 2026
The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach the vice president on a range of accusations that include misusing public funds, accumulating unexplained wealth and plotting to assassinate the president.
—Kathleen Magramo, CNN Money, 13 May 2026
All the men were accused of plotting in South Florida and hiring a squad of former Colombian soldiers to violently overthrow Haiti’s president in a coup scheme that turned from his ouster to his assassination a couple of weeks before his death.
—Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 8 May 2026
Stuart’s prose is gorgeous and his plotting strategic; nothing is lost.
—Literary Hub, 1 May 2026
Noun
Who is murdered, why and Clare’s entanglement in the whole deal unfold over the remainder of the novel, featuring much tighter and more plausible plotting than your average suspense story.
—John Warner, Chicago Tribune, 16 May 2026
For that, Quintrell turned directly to Austen’s own plotting.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 7 May 2026
Even the film’s critic-defying, pinky-swearing fanbase may be disappointed in the barebones production, jarring plotting, tired dialogue and ham-handed staging.
—Frank Rizzo, Variety, 23 Apr. 2026
But Goebel’s sharp dialogue, razor plotting and fiery sense of Los Angeles elevate his unconventional characters.
—Oline H. Cogdill, Sun Sentinel, 21 Apr. 2026
Pixels • One promising character disconnected from the plotting so far is Zach Galifianakis as Carl Bardolph, a client of JoAnne’s who made some untold fortune in the business, but has since turned into a bitter recluse.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 12 Apr. 2026
But despite Badio’s behind-the-scenes plotting, John insisted that the former official was not the one in charge of the operation.
—Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 10 Apr. 2026
His strategic planning and patience in taking control require proper plotting, which the sea-goat can do when invested in a project.
—Lisa Stardust, PEOPLE, 4 Apr. 2026
In its plotting and structure, this often feels less like a series than a two-hour movie that’s been stretched to fill eight 45-minute episodes on the rationale that the latter would be easier to greenlight than the former.
—Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 26 Mar. 2026
Verb
But soon the 50-year-old character actor will be joining the DCU and plotting to conquer and collect the world as Brainiac, the villain of James Gunn’s Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow.
—Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 17 May 2026
An Iraqi man accused of orchestrating nearly 20 terrorist attacks across Europe and plotting attacks on Jewish institutions in the United States has been brought to New York to face federal terrorism charges after what the FBI described as a major international operation.
—Louis Casiano , Jasmine Baehr, FOXNews.com, 15 May 2026
May 15, 2026 Share full article A commander of an Iraqi militia has been charged with plotting to attack Jewish sites in the United States, including a synagogue in New York, and carrying out attacks in Europe as part of a broader campaign of retaliation by Iran since the war began in February.
—New York Times, 15 May 2026
Awareness of risk from terror plots is high in the city after a 21-year-old Austrian man accused of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group pleaded guilty to plotting to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in 2024.
—ABC News, 14 May 2026
The individuals Turner initially trusts, colleagues and department heads, are the very ones plotting against him.
—Paul Fitzgerald, Rolling Stone, 14 May 2026
The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach the vice president on a range of accusations that include misusing public funds, accumulating unexplained wealth and plotting to assassinate the president.
—Kathleen Magramo, CNN Money, 13 May 2026
All the men were accused of plotting in South Florida and hiring a squad of former Colombian soldiers to violently overthrow Haiti’s president in a coup scheme that turned from his ouster to his assassination a couple of weeks before his death.
—Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 8 May 2026
Stuart’s prose is gorgeous and his plotting strategic; nothing is lost.
—Literary Hub, 1 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for plotting
Adjective
-
Even Alex becomes too entangled in her students’ dealings and ends up suffering at the hands of one of the more calculating boys.—
Rebekah Frumkin,
Washington Post,
6 Sep. 2019
-
And experts believe that his intuitive style could throw the more calculating Caruana, who has faced time crunches already in this championship, off-balance.—
Joshua Robinson,
WSJ,
27 Nov. 2018
Noun
-
Off the heels of a miscarriage, Coltrane and his wife dream of a normal life outside of their undercover thieving and scheming.—
Taylor Ardrey,
USA Today,
15 May 2026
-
There’s blackmail, scheming, and, of course, a plot for murder.—
Amy Reyes
May 14,
Miami Herald,
14 May 2026
Verb
-
Many four-year colleges have been planning for such a transition for years.—
Jay Caspian Kang,
New Yorker,
19 May 2026
-
Too bad then that the man holding a debt over his head (Jonathan Coyne) is actually planning on offing him in his last match.—
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
19 May 2026
Adjective
-
Amarteifio and Edebiri have an understated chemistry that makes the covert passion between these two women believable.—
Lovia Gyarkye,
HollywoodReporter,
16 May 2026
-
These UUVs are becoming increasingly capable of autonomous operations and performing adaptive search patterns enabling wide area covert operations.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
14 May 2026
Noun
-
Different routes through each level — stealth, social infiltration or full-action — feed the replay loop in a way that should give the game serious legs past launch week.—
Brian Mazique,
Forbes.com,
16 May 2026
-
Franzen is the cofounder and CEO of Furientis, a defense startup that emerged from stealth with $5 million in pre-seed funding, Fortune learned exclusively.—
Lily Mae Lazarus,
Fortune,
14 May 2026
Adjective
-
TiVo is often chastised for being surreptitious about its data collection practices and its failure to provide a clear privacy policy.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
14 May 2026
-
The upside of the bar's surreptitious locale is sometimes not having to share it with a soul; the downside is the potential lack of a pool partner, so bring your own.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
30 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The ballot will be separated from the return envelope to preserve the secrecy of your ballot, and it then will be tallied.—
John Woolfolk,
Mercury News,
18 May 2026
-
Quantum key cryptography allows two parties aiming to share sensitive data to establish a secure encryption key with secrecy ensured by the laws of physics, not the computational difficulty of a mathematical problem.—
Katie Hunt,
CNN Money,
17 May 2026
Adjective
-
Dark, dim, and a little grungy, with its scuffed checkerboard floors, worn old couches, peeling walls, and chalkboard menus, La Factoria feels like a clandestine underground speakeasy.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
7 May 2026
-
Filling out the role of Ilya is Jay Armstrong Johnson; Jimin Moon plays Shane; Ryann Redmond plays a wine-mom narrator who lives for their clandestine love.—
Dan Stahl,
New Yorker,
1 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Plotting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plotting. Accessed 20 May. 2026.
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