subtle
AdjectiveWordNet 3.0
Adjective (3)
- 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”Synonyms: elusive
- able to make fine distinctions“a subtle mind”
- working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way“glaucoma is an insidious disease”“a subtle poison”Synonyms: insidiouspernicious
Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)
1.Thin; not dense or gross; rare; as, subtile air; subtile vapor; a subtile medium. [1913 Webster]
2.Delicately constituted or constructed; nice; fine; delicate; tenuous; finely woven. "A sotil [subtile] twine's thread." --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
More subtile web Arachne can not spin.— Spenser.[1913 Webster]
I do distinguish plain Each subtile line of her immortal face.— Sir J. Davies.[1913 Webster]
3.Acute; piercing; searching. [1913 Webster]
The slow disease and subtile pain.— Prior.[1913 Webster]
5.Characterized by nicety of discrimination; discerning; delicate; refined; subtle. [In this sense now commonly written subtle.] [1913 Webster]
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.[1913 Webster]
The subtile influence of an intellect like Emerson's.— Hawthorne.[1913 Webster]
5.Sly; artful; cunning; crafty; subtle; as, a subtile person; a subtile adversary; a subtile scheme. [In this sense now commonly written subtle.] [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster] -- Sub"tile*ly, adv. -- Sub"tile*ness, n. [1913 Webster]
1.Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; -- applied to persons; as, a subtle foe. "A subtle traitor." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
2.Cunningly devised; crafty; treacherous; as, a subtle stratagem. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
Things remote from use, obscure and subtle.— Milton.[1913 Webster]
4.Smooth and deceptive. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground [bowling ground].— Shak.[1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]