misplot

present singular third person misplots · participle present misplotting · participle past misplotted · past misplotted

1. To incorrectly mark the position of.

   And I take real care if I am crossing the Greenwich meridian or the equator, when the scale reverses: it is incredibly easy to misplot a position.

   2018, Paul Boissier, Understanding a Nautical Chart

   3 more examples

   I believe that M. H. Abrams, Harold Bloom, and Geoffrey Hartman, for example, all miss or misplot Wordsworth's position on the crucial intellectual axes represented by Burke and Rousseau.

   1984, James Chandler, Wordsworth's Second Nature: A Study of the Poetry and Politics

   If the doctor is not familiar with the dermatome patterns, he may misplot the dermatome areas, and the test may be either a false positive or a false negative.

   1989, Marshall Houts, Leonard Marmor, Proving Medical Diagnosis and Prognosis: Orthopedic tests: neck, page 106-19

   They implanted viruses that would make the systems report aircraft where none existed, hide some aircraft that were airborne, and misplot the positions and altitude of other aircraft.

   1999, Tom Cool, Secret Realms, page 155

2. To make an error in planning a trajectory or route.

   You did not misread the map, nor did you misplot your course.

   2001, Thomas Myron Williams, Thomas Williams, The Devil's Mouth, page 405

   3 more examples

   Mr. O'Hara, athlete that he was, misplotted his course and plunged into the well.

   1953, Mr. O'Hara, page 52

   It is amazing how easy it is, in the distracting environment of a boat under way, to misplot a bearing by 10°; to write down the wrong time for something; to misidentify charted features used for range; to copy the wrong number out of a table.

   1975, John S. Letcher, Jr., “Primer on Piloting”, in Cruising World, volume 1, number 6, page 28

   One day Connie Mayers is at point doing 'recky' while the squad is going over the central highlands, but somehow he has misplotted the course.

   1992, Maurice Paterson, Big Sky/little Bullet: A Docu-novel, page 17

3. To make a mistake in forming a course of action or storyline.

   And now and then we find a great idea, misplotted and half told.

   1929, Camera: A Practical Magazine for Photographers - Volume 39, page 65

   3 more examples

   By contrast Levin's sequel, Rosemary's Son (1997), is an ill-conceived and misplotted attempt to imagine the future that awaits Rosemary's baby at the dawn of the millennium.

   1999, Marshall B. Tymn, Neil Barron, Fantasy and Horror, page 279

   If we misplot ourselves, no doubt we will mislive ourselves; but we are storied creatures.

   2012, Mike Graves, What's the Shape of Narrative Preaching?, page 100

   As James miscast Adam Verver for his role, so has James's role, it strikes me, been misplotted for him.

   2017, W.M. Spackman, On the Decay of Criticism: The Complete Essays of W.M. Spackman, page 64

plural misplots

1. countableuncountableAn instance of misplotting.

   A misplot of ship position is the most frequently made plotting error .

   1963, United States. Bureau of Naval Personnel, Aerographer's Mate 3 & 2, page 117

   3 more examples

   A printout of individuals too far from block's center enabled me to eliminate obvious misplots.

   1979, Richard Wolniewicz, Northeast Minneapolis, page 31

   Of the four locations which turned out not to be cultural, two were small rock outcrops shaped like the blinds that had been positively identified on the aerials, one was a total bust and one may have been a misplot on the topographic map since a large blind was located about 150 meters northwest of the photo location.

   1998, Jerry D. Greer, Remote Sensing and Ecosystem Management, page 239

   The point on the graph should be marked with a small but noticeable dot ○ drawn with a pencil, not an ink pen, to allow correction of misplots.

   2019, Alan Emond, Health for all Children, page 211

2. countablerareuncountableA plot error; an inconsistency or mistake in creating a storyline.

   Some, who read this, may not know what the crowning misplot was, and it will bear mentioning.

   1858, Alexander Lovett Stimson, History of the Express Companies, page 338