- plan#
- plan n Plan, design, plot, scheme, project, as nouns, denote a proposed method of doing or making something or of achieving a given end, and as verbs, to devise such a method.Plan, in its widest sense, regularly implies mental formulation of the method{
plan a trip to Europe
}{make plans for the future of their children
}{plans for an expansion of one's business
}{she had her plan clearly in her head, with every detail . . . distinct— Gibbons
}{it is a basic part of industrial technology that planned obsolescence should be built into every unit— Pohl
}In a narrower sense, the terms may imply a graphic represen-tation of such a method (as by a mechanical drawing, a chart, a sketch, or a layout){an architect's set of plans
}{plan a garden
}{the basement of St. Katherine's Dock House is vast in extent and confusing in its plan— Conrad
}Design (see also INTENTION) adds to plan an emphasis on intention (as artistic or divine intention) in the disposition of individual members or details, often thereby suggesting a definite pattern; since it is used frequently in reference to a completed work, it often implies reference to the degree in which order, harmony, or integrity have been achieved in spite of diversity in the parts, or in which there is the beauty that results from unity in variety{it . . . like most architecture erected since the Gothic age, was a compilation rather than a design— Hardy
}{the most wonderful and delicate design composed entirely of flowers— Da hi
}{knows how to design a part so that it develops and acqurres momentum in performance— Atkinson
}{a curious/woman, whose dresses always looked as if they had been designed in a rage— Wilde
}Plot (see also PLOT n 2; SKETCH vb) usually connotes a laying out in clearly distinguished and carefully proportioned sections or divisions, and attention to proper placing and due relation of the parts, and to scale. It is found chiefly in technical use, such as that of surveying, where it suggests a ground plan{plot a tract of land
}or in literature, where it refers to a fundamental design which the action of a drama or narrative follows{there is plenty of action in this play, but no plot
}{I cannot understand the sharp distinction some clever theorists make between story and plot. A plot is merely the pattern on which the story is arranged— Maugham
}{in neatly plotted and tightly hedged domains of the corporate imperium, the freedom to adventure is gone— W. H. Hamilton
}Scheme has nearly lost its early implication of a diagram except in some technical senses where it suggests tabulation more often than outline drawing{the rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet
}Nevertheless, the word often suggests, more than plan does, system and careful choice or ordering of details{work out a scheme for the distribution of war refugees
}{she seldom schemed, but when she did scheme, her plans showed . . . the comprehensive strategy of a general— Hardy
}The terms often connote, singly or in combination, self-delusion, craftiness, or self-seeking on the part of the agent{he doesn't scheme and twist things about trying to get the best of someone else— Anderson
}{a lurking suspicion that our work was ... a scheme to superimpose American economic control upon ingenuous foreign countries— Heiser
}Project comes close to scheme except in its connotations. Sometimes it suggests enterprise; sometimes, imaginative scope or vision; sometimes, mere extensiveness{sanguine schemes, ambitious projects, pleased me less— Wordsworth
}{such were my projects for the city's good— Browning
}{I projected, and drew up a plan for the union— Franklin
}{although his health was rapidly failing, he projected a new book— Dinsmore
}Analogous words: *intention, intent, purpose: *idea, conception, notion: *chart, map, graph: diagram, outline, sketch (see under SKETCH vb)plan vb design, plot, scheme, project (see under PLAN n)
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
