Subtle
['sʌt(ə)l] or ['sʌtl]
Definition
(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.
Edited by Dorothy
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Crafty, cunning, artful, sly, wily, arch, astute, designing, intriguing, insinuating, crooked, tricky, diplomatic, Machiavelian.[2]. Acute, keen, shrewd, sagacious, deep, profound.
Inputed by Amanda
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Sly, artful, cunning, insinuating, wily, astute, nice, discriminating, crafty,fine, shrewd, sophistical, Jesuitical
ANT:Open, frank, honest, artless, undiscriminating, rough, blunt, undiscerning,unsophisticated, simple
Editor: Pasquale
Definition
adj. subtile in a figurative sense: acute quick to discern or discriminate: insinuating sly artful: cunningly devised ingenious.—ns. Subt′leness Subt′lety quality of being subtle: artfulness: shrewdness: extreme acuteness.—adj. Subt′le-wit′ted sharp-witted.—adv. Subt′ly (B. Sub′tilly) ingeniously cleverly: artfully deceitfully.
Editor: Solomon
Examples
- The whole game was one of subtle inter-suggestivity, and they wanted to keep it on the plane of suggestion. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- How subtle her influence was, she seemed to start his irritable attention into her direction exclusively, in one minute. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- And as she swung her head, her fine mane of hair just swept his face, and all his nerves were on fire, as with a subtle friction of electricity. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- And yet it all depends on the toilful conquest of a subtle and intricate art. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- He is subtle and watchful. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible crime. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- My sister and I, you will recollect, were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two souls which are so closely allied. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Yes; Mr. Casaubon often says I am too subtle. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- What subtle wickedness had the Count planned and executed in my absence? Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Her brooding look, as of a mind withdrawn yet not averted, seemed to Mr. Rosedale full of a subtle encouragement. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- What if, for some one of the subtler reasons that would tell with both of them, they should tire of each other, misunderstand or irritate each other? Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- The pretty dresses of the maids lost their subtler day colours and showed more or less of a misty white. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- To think of that loud independence of Mattie's being only a subtler form of snobbishness! Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- And all the while, research studies their results, artists express subtler perceptions, critics refine and adapt the general culture of the times. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Sometimes it is some surer and subtler means. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Mere display left her with a sense of superior distinction; but she felt an affinity to all the subtler manifestations of wealth. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- There is a further point, however, which is subtler and of greater interest. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- They said of old the Soul had human shape, But smaller, subtler than the fleshly self, So wandered forth for airing when it pleased. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- She was the finest, deepest, subtlest schemer in Europe. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- The far-reaching orange groves surrounding Riverside are one of the most beautiful of all beautiful sights in Southern California, and the fragrance of the blossoms is subtlest witchery. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- And they armed each other with knowledge, they extracted the subtlest flavours from the apple of knowledge. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
Typed by Erica