the plot thickens
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A situation becomes more complicated or interesting
Literally: a plot becoming thicker
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The plot thickened as Malcolm Ferris, from the UK Pool Federation, a rival of Carter's Q - Sport organisation, added: ' Carter sent the shop woman to me to get paid.
I mean, that really does make the plot thicken doesn't it?
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “the plot thickens” mean?
A situation becomes more complicated or interesting Literally: a plot becoming thicker
Is “the plot thickens” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.