the.com/plot hole

means A gap or inconsistency in a narrative where the plot stops making internal sense — events, motives, or facts that contradict what the story itself established.

from A modern compound, not an old word — 'plot' tracing back to a plan or scheme (originally a small plot of ground, then a diagram, then a story's scheme of events) joined with 'hole' in its familiar sense of a gap or defect. The phrase rose with 20th-century film and genre criticism, as audiences got systematic about picking apart scripts, and exploded further with internet fan communities dissecting movies frame by frame. No single coiner is recorded — it just filled an obvious need once enough people needed a name for 'wait, that doesn't add up.'