Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of subplot
Mansfield Park contains a slow burning love story with Fanny’s cousin Edmund and delicious subplots concerning two charming, selfish siblings, but of chief interest are Fanny’s two aunts.
—
Literary Hub, 14 Jan. 2026
Ann’s closer companion is her adoring brother, William (Lewis Pullman), who obeys her without question—even forsaking his male lover, in a glancing subplot, to pursue the Shaker way.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 9 Jan. 2026
And of course, the subplot here is Ole Miss’s coaching situation.
—Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 31 Dec. 2025
The Potter subplot encapsulates the film’s most trenchant, still-resonant themes: the unfairness of socioeconomic injustices; the pervasiveness of corporate and political corruption; the threat of monopolized power; the need for affordable housing.
—Nora Gilbert, The Conversation, 11 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for subplot
Literary Hub, 14 Jan. 2026
Ann’s closer companion is her adoring brother, William (Lewis Pullman), who obeys her without question—even forsaking his male lover, in a glancing subplot, to pursue the Shaker way.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 9 Jan. 2026
And of course, the subplot here is Ole Miss’s coaching situation.
—Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 31 Dec. 2025
The Potter subplot encapsulates the film’s most trenchant, still-resonant themes: the unfairness of socioeconomic injustices; the pervasiveness of corporate and political corruption; the threat of monopolized power; the need for affordable housing.
—Nora Gilbert, The Conversation, 11 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for subplot
Recent Examples of Synonyms for subplot
Noun
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The show is good at making the off-and-on vicissitudes of modern dating feel natural to the plot.—
Doreen St. Félix,
New Yorker,
14 Feb. 2026
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The film began with a question rather than a plot.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
14 Feb. 2026
Noun
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At this point, the park service is merely studying the idea, and the study could lead to no action at all.—
Susanne Rust
Follow,
Los Angeles Times,
12 Feb. 2026
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The investigation resulted in an unnamed enforcement action, according to CBP.—
Christian Datoc,
The Washington Examiner,
12 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Besides the deceased, who appears more as a spectre in pictures, letters and memories, the men in this story take a back seat, with three generations of women at the center of the narrative.—
Murtada Elfadl,
Variety,
13 Feb. 2026
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Find this story at Iowa Capital Dispatch, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.—
Robin Opsahl,
Iowa Capital Dispatch,
13 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Subplot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subplot. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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