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Subtle   /sˈətəl/   Listen
adjective
Subtile  adj.  
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." "More subtile web Arachne can not spin." "I do distinguish plain Each subtile line of her immortal face."
3.
Acute; piercing; searching. "The slow disease and subtile pain."
4.
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." "The subtile influence of an intellect like Emerson's."
5.
Sly; artful; cunning; crafty; subtle; as, a subtile person; a subtile adversary; a subtile scheme. (In this sense now commonly written subtle)
Synonyms: Subtile, Acute. 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.


Subtle  adj.  (compar. subtler; superl. subtlest)  
1.
Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; applied to persons; as, a subtle foe. "A subtle traitor."
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)."
Synonyms: Artful; crafty; cunning; shrewd; sly; wily. Subtle is the most comprehensive of these epithets and implies the finest intellectual quality. See Shrewd, and Cunning.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Subtle" Quotes from Famous Books



... and don't attempt to use That Subtle Touch which Editors refuse; Better be jocund at two cents a word Than, starving, court ...
— The Rubaiyat of Omar Cayenne • Gelett Burgess
... has not been told. His criticisms have been ridiculed as shallow; but while his lucubrations on Milton were useful in their day as plain finger-posts, quietly pointing up to the stupendous sublimities of the theme, his essays on Wit are subtle, and his papers on the "Pleasures of Imagination" throw on the beautiful topic a light like that of a red evening west, giving and receiving glory from the ...
— The Poetical Works of Addison; Gay's Fables; and Somerville's Chase • Joseph Addison, John Gay, William Sommerville
... his taciturnity of manner had appealed to me by contrast, and that I wished to repay something of what I owed. There was, no doubt, flattery in it as well, for he was more than twice my age, a man of amazingly wide experience, an explorer of all the world's corners where danger lurked, and—most subtle flattery of all—by far the best shot in the whole party, our ...
— The Empty House And Other Ghost Stories • Algernon Blackwood
... seem as if they were striking in the air. Here we see the enemy, and can strike directly at him, and one has some satisfaction in getting weary and sick at heart in fighting at great odds against a visible power instead of the more subtle powers "of the air." But I digress! It is such a temptation to let myself out when communicating with one who understands this discouraging, fascinating, and encouraging work. This year's work has given me experience, as well as gray hair, ...
— The American Missionary - Volume 50, No. 6, June 1896 • Various
... they happen to everybody, can stop one's heart with the very thought of them. But while this is granted, something further may be claimed. It is not merely true that these universal things are strange; it is moreover true that they are subtle. In the last analysis most common things will be found to be highly complicated. Some men of science do indeed get over the difficulty by dealing only with the easy part of it: thus, they will call first love the instinct of sex, and the awe of ...
— What's Wrong With The World • G.K. Chesterton


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