subtle

[sub·tle]

Something that is subtle is not obvious: a professional food taster might be able to perceive subtle differences of flavor that most people don't notice.

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Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; -- applied to persons; as, a subtle foe.

Adjective S.
faint and difficult to analyze; "subtle aromas"

Adjective S.
working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way; "glaucoma is an insidious disease"; "a subtle poison"

Adjective S.
be difficult to detect or grasp by the mind; "his whole attitude had undergone a subtle change"; "a subtle difference"; "that elusive thing the soul"

Adjective S.
able to make fine distinctions; "a subtle mind"


superl.
Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; -- applied to persons; as, a subtle foe.

superl.
Cunningly devised; crafty; treacherous; as, a subtle stratagem.

superl.
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.

superl.
Smooth and deceptive.


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.
4. Smooth and deceptive. [Obs.]
Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground [bowling ground].
Syn. -- Artful; crafty; cunning; shrewd; sly; wily. Subtle is the most comprehensive of these epithets and implies the finest intellectual quality. See Shrewd, and Cunning.

Subtleness

Sub"tle*ness , n. The quality or state of being subtle; subtlety.

Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; -- applied to persons; as, a subtle foe.

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Usage Examples

Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

It's important to debunk the myths of Africa being this benighted continent civilized only when white people arrived. In fact, Africans had been creators of culture for thousands of years before. These were very intelligent, subtle and sophisticated people, with organized societies and great art.

Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings.

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.

Love makes a subtle man out of a crude one, it gives eloquence to the mute, it gives courage the cowardly and makes the idle quick and sharp.

By learning about my body and making small, subtle changes, I find out what I enjoy and what is effective. I'm always finessing: adjusting my diet and my workouts. You have to figure out which exercises are fun and interesting and stimulate your brain - or else you'll never keep at them.

A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.

Look, I'm very much in favor of tax cuts, but not with borrowed money. And the problem that we've gotten into in recent years is spending programs with borrowed money, tax cuts with borrowed money, and at the end of the day that proves disastrous. And my view is I don't think we can play subtle policy here.

Misspelled Form

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Other Usage Examples

We didn't care if we were well-liked as long as the movies were good. We served the movie - that was our master at Miramax. In our second incarnation, the movie is still the master but we're getting the same results in more subtle ways.

Poetry is the most subtle of the literary arts, and students grow more ingenious by the year at avoiding it. If they can nip around Milton, duck under Blake and collapse gratefully into the arms of Jane Austen, a lot of them will.

Poetry is of so subtle a spirit, that in the pouring out of one language into another it will evaporate.

My character Lena is somebody who responds to people in a very simple way. I didn't have to take myself off to a darkened room to concentrate, I just had to try and be open. It's an interesting, subtle relationship.

But the relationship of morality and power is a very subtle one. Because ultimately power without morality is no longer power.

Even when I begin with a situation that's basically funny or sad, I like to keep poking around in it. I like to get into the middle of a relationship, to explore the subtle places.

If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.

These are very subtle things, of course, and I don't expect everyone to pick them up consciously, but I think that there is something there that you must be able to feel, there is an energy at work that I must trust my audience will be able to pick up at some level.

Justice and truth are too such subtle points that our tools are too blunt to touch them accurately.

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