WordGarden.ioplat
C2Pronunciation
UK
- /plæt/adjective
US
- /plæt/adjective
Meanings
Noun
a map showing how a piece of land is divided into lots or property lines
Verb
to map or lay out land into lots or parcels officially
Beyond the definition
Most often, a plat is a map or plan that shows how land is divided. You may see the word in property records, land surveys, or building work, where it marks boundaries, streets, and lots. In older writing, it can also mean a small piece of land itself.
There is also an old figurative sense where plat means a plot or scheme, but that use is rare now. Today, if you come across the word, it is much more likely to be talking about land records than a secret plan.
The heart of plat is land and the way land is marked out on paper. In its main and most useful sense, a plat is a map, drawing, or plan that shows the boundaries and divisions of a piece of land. It appears in surveys, legal records, and development documents, where it helps show lots, roads, and property lines clearly.
From there, the word also came to mean the piece of land shown on that map. This sense turns up more in older or literary writing, where a plat may be a small plot of ground, such as a garden area or a marked section of land. That meaning still makes sense, but it is much less common than the map sense.
There is also an older figurative use in which plat means a plot, plan, or scheme. You are most likely to meet that meaning in historical texts rather than modern speech. So if you see plat today, the safest guess is usually a land-survey map, not a secret plan.
Examples
- 1
Land survey
The surveyor filed a plat showing the new subdivision's streets and lot lines.
- Domainplat
an official map of land boundaries, often used in property records
- 2
Property purchase
Before buying the lot, we checked the plat to see whether an easement crossed the driveway.
- 3
Development approval
The developer must plat the land before the city will approve the new homes.
- Patternplat + land/property
divide and map it officially for development
See also
Similar
- survey map
- subdivision map
- cadastral map
Shades of meaning
- parcel map
Contrast
- deed
- aerial map
Used with (collocations)
- plat map
- recorded plat
- plat of subdivision
Word family
- plats
Explore
- land survey
- property boundary
Forms and spellings
1 form open this card.
Main spelling
- platnounverb