Adjacent Words

Subtle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SUB'TLE, a. [See Subtil.] Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; applied to persons; as a subtle foe.
1. Cunningly devised; as a subtle stratagem.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze; "his whole attitude had undergone a subtle change"; "a subtle difference"; "that elusive thing the soul" [syn: elusive, subtle]
2: able to make fine distinctions; "a subtle mind"
3: working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way; "glaucoma is an insidious disease"; "a subtle poison" [syn: insidious, pernicious, subtle]

Merriam Webster's

adjective (subtler; subtlest) Etymology: Middle English sotil, subtile, from Anglo-French, from Latin subtilis, literally, finely textured, from sub- + tela cloth on a loom; akin to Latin texere to weave — more at technical Date: 14th century 1. a. delicate, elusive <a subtle fragrance> b. difficult to understand or perceive ; obscure <subtle differences in sound> 2. a. perceptive, refined <a writer's sharp and subtle moral sense> b. having or marked by keen insight and ability to penetrate deeply and thoroughly <a subtle scholar> 3. a. highly skillful ; expert <a subtle craftsman> b. cunningly made or contrived ; ingenious 4. artful, crafty <a subtle rogue> 5. operating insidiously <subtle poisons> • subtleness noun • subtly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. (subtler, subtlest) 1 evasive or mysterious; hard to grasp (subtle charm; a subtle distinction). 2 (of scent, colour, etc.) faint, delicate, elusive (subtle perfume). 3 a capable of making fine distinctions; perceptive; acute (subtle intellect; subtle senses). b ingenious; elaborate; clever (a subtle device). 4 archaic crafty, cunning. Derivatives: subtleness n. subtly adv. Etymology: ME f. OF sotil f. L subtilis

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Subtile Sub"tile, a. [L. subtilis. See Subtile.] 1. Thin; not dense or gross; rare; as, subtile air; subtile vapor; a subtile medium. 2. Delicately constituted or constructed; nice; fine; delicate; tenuous; finely woven. ``A sotil [subtile] twine's thread.'' --Chaucer. More subtile web Arachne can not spin. --Spenser. I do distinguish plain Each subtile line of her immortal face. --Sir J. Davies. 3. Acute; piercing; searching. The slow disease and subtile pain. --Prior. 5. Characterized by nicety of discrimination; discerning; delicate; refined; subtle. [In this sense now commonly written subtle.] The genius of the Spanish people is exquisitely subtile, without being at all acute; hence there is so much humor and so little wit in their literature. The genius of the Italians, on the contrary, is acute, profound, and sensual, but not subtile; hence what they think to be humorous, is merely witty. --Coleridge. The subtile influence of an intellect like Emerson's. --Hawthorne. 5. Sly; artful; cunning; crafty; subtle; as, a subtile person; a subtile adversary; a subtile scheme. [In this sense now commonly written subtle.] Syn: Subtile, Acute. Usage: In acute the image is that of a needle's point; in subtile that of a thread spun out to fineness. The acute intellect pierces to its aim; the subtile (or subtle) intellect winds its way through obstacles. -- Sub"tile*ly, adv. -- Sub"tile*ness, n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Subtile Sub"tile, a. [L. subtilis. See Subtile.] 1. Thin; not dense or gross; rare; as, subtile air; subtile vapor; a subtile medium. 2. Delicately constituted or constructed; nice; fine; delicate; tenuous; finely woven. ``A sotil [subtile] twine's thread.'' --Chaucer. More subtile web Arachne can not spin. --Spenser. I do distinguish plain Each subtile line of her immortal face. --Sir J. Davies. 3. Acute; piercing; searching. The slow disease and subtile pain. --Prior. 5. Characterized by nicety of discrimination; discerning; delicate; refined; subtle. [In this sense now commonly written subtle.] The genius of the Spanish people is exquisitely subtile, without being at all acute; hence there is so much humor and so little wit in their literature. The genius of the Italians, on the contrary, is acute, profound, and sensual, but not subtile; hence what they think to be humorous, is merely witty. --Coleridge. The subtile influence of an intellect like Emerson's. --Hawthorne. 5. Sly; artful; cunning; crafty; subtle; as, a subtile person; a subtile adversary; a subtile scheme. [In this sense now commonly written subtle.] Syn: Subtile, Acute. Usage: In acute the image is that of a needle's point; in subtile that of a thread spun out to fineness. The acute intellect pierces to its aim; the subtile (or subtle) intellect winds its way through obstacles. -- Sub"tile*ly, adv. -- Sub"tile*ness, n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Subtle Sub"tle, a. [Compar. Subtler; superl. Subtlest.] [OE. sotil, subtil, OF. soutil, later subtil, F. subtil, L. subtilis; probably, originally, woven fine, and fr. sub under + tela a web, fr. texere to weave. See Text, and cf. Subtile.] 1. Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; -- applied to persons; as, a subtle foe. ``A subtle traitor.'' --Shak. 2. Cunningly devised; crafty; treacherous; as, a subtle stratagem. 3. Characterized by refinement and niceness in drawing distinctions; nicely discriminating; -- said of persons; as, a subtle logician; refined; tenuous; sinuous; insinuating; hence, penetrative or pervasive; -- said of the mind; its faculties, or its operations; as, a subtle intellect; a subtle imagination; a subtle process of thought; also, difficult of apprehension; elusive. Things remote from use, obscure and subtle. --Milton. 4. Smooth and deceptive. [Obs.] Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground [bowling ground]. --Shak. Syn: Artful; crafty; cunning; shrewd; sly; wily. Usage: Subtle is the most comprehensive of these epithets and implies the finest intellectual quality. See Shrewd, and Cunning.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(subtler, subtlest) 1. Something that is subtle is not immediately obvious or noticeable. ...the slow and subtle changes that take place in all living things... Intolerance can take subtler forms too. ADJ • subtly The truth is subtly different... ADV 2. A subtle person cleverly uses indirect methods to achieve something. I even began to exploit him in subtle ways... ADJ • subtly What I've tried very subtly to do is to reclaim language. ADV: ADV with v 3. Subtle smells, tastes, sounds, or colours are pleasantly complex and delicate. ...subtle shades of brown. ...delightfully subtle scents. ADJ • subtly ...a white sofa teamed with subtly coloured rugs. ADV

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Crafty, cunning, artful, sly, wily, arch, astute, designing, intriguing, insinuating, crooked, tricky, diplomatic, Machiavelian, sophistical, Jesuitical. 2. Cunning, artful, cunningly devised. 3. Acute, keen, shrewd, sagacious, deep, profound.

Moby Thesaurus

Byzantine, Machiavellian, Machiavellic, abstruse, accurate, acute, adulterated, air-built, airy, analytic, analytical, appreciative, arcane, arch, artful, astute, attentive, attenuate, attenuated, balled up, boyish, cagey, calculating, canny, casuistic, chimerical, civilized, clever, close, cloud-built, complex, complicated, concealed, confounded, confused, conscientious, constant, convoluted, correct, crabbed, crafty, creamy, critical, cultivated, cultured, cunning, cut, cute, daedal, dainty, deceitful, deceptive, deep, deep-laid, delicate, demanding, designing, detailed, devious, dexterous, diaphanous, differential, dilute, diluted, diplomatic, direct, discriminate, discriminating, discriminative, distinctive, distinguishing, dreamlike, eggshell, elaborate, elegant, elusive, embrangled, entangled, ethereal, even, exact, exacting, exigent, express, exquisite, faint, faithful, fanciful, fastidious, fatuitous, fatuous, feline, fine, fine-drawn, finespun, finical, finicking, finicky, flat, flimsy, fouled up, foxy, frail, fussy, gaseous, gauzy, girlish, gloss, gossamer, gossamery, graceful, gracile, gracious, guileful, hairline, hairsplitting, hidden, illusory, imaginary, implicated, inerrable, inerrant, infallible, ingenious, insidious, insubstantial, intricate, inventive, involuted, involved, iridescent, knotted, knowing, labyrinthian, labyrinthine, lacy, light, loused up, many-faceted, mathematical, matted, mazy, meandering, mellow, messed up, meticulous, micrometrically precise, microscopic, minute, misty, mixed up, mother-of-pearl, mucked up, multifarious, nacreous, narrow, nebulous, nice, obscure, opalescent, pale, papery, particular, pastel, patinaed, pawky, pearly, perplexed, phantomlike, pinpoint, polished, politic, precise, precisianistic, precisionistic, profound, punctilious, punctual, quiet, ramified, rare, rarefied, ratiocinative, ready, recondite, refined, religious, religiously exact, remote, resourceful, rigid, rigorous, roundabout, sad, scheming, scientific, scientifically exact, screwed up, scrupulous, scrutinizing, selective, semigloss, sensitive, serpentine, severe, shadowy, sharp, shifty, shrewd, simple, skillful, slender, slenderish, slick, slight, slight-made, slim, slimmish, slimy, slinky, slippery, sly, small, smarmy, smart, smooth, snaky, snarled, sneaky, sober, soft, soft-colored, soft-hued, softened, somber, sophistical, sophisticated, spirituous, square, stealthy, strategic, strict, subdued, subtile, supple, svelte, sweet, sylphlike, tactful, tactical, tangled, tangly, tender, tenuous, thin, thin-bodied, thin-set, thin-spun, thinned, thinned-out, thinnish, threadlike, trickish, tricksy, tricky, twisted, uncompact, uncompressed, underhanded, undeviating, unerring, unreal, unsubstantial, vague, vaporous, veiled, vulpine, wary, wasp-waisted, watered, watered-down, watery, weak, willowy, wily, windy, wiredrawn, wispy