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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



... took a lute from which there pulsing came A lively prelude, fashioning the way In which her voice should wander. 'T was a lay More subtle-cadenced, more forest-wild Than Dryope's lone ...
— Bulfinch's Mythology • Thomas Bulfinch
... opportunities of a rapprochement. It is trade, trade, trade and nothing else, the whole of the time, and the men whom we sent to the different Courts to further our commercial interests are not the type to keep us informed of the more subtle and intricate matters which sometimes need adjustment ...
— The Great Prince Shan • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... energy; energies which were accumulating during the ages when the other nations were lavishly spending theirs. How will this colossal force be used in the future? Moving silently and irresistibly toward the East, and guided by a subtle and far-reaching policy, who can foresee what will be the end, and what the ultimate destiny of the Empire which had its beginning in a small Slavonic State upon the Dnieper, and which, until a little more than a century ago, was too much of a barbarian ...
— A Short History of Russia • Mary Platt Parmele
... cheery letter, vibrating with love and hope, or prompt us to spend half an hour with one who needs the bath of joy our words may bring. Consciously and unconsciously we lighten the pathway, lift the burdens, sanctify the sorrows of the world by sending out and receiving this subtle thread of thought, so fine in its essence and quality, that any one and every one may feel ...
— The Right Knock - A Story • Helen Van-Anderson
... the south wind, in May days, With a net of shining haze Silvers the horizon wall, And with softness touching all, Tints the human countenance With a color of romance, And infusing subtle heats, Turns the sod to violets, Thou, in sunny solitudes, Rover of the underwoods, The green silence dost displace ...
— The Golden Treasury of American Songs and Lyrics • Various


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