subtle

English

Alternative forms

• subtil, subtile, suttle (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English sotil, soubtil, subtil, borrowed from Old French soutil, subtil, from Latin subtīlis (“fine, thin, slender, delicate”); probably, originally, “woven fine”, and from sub (“under”) + tēla (“a web”), from texere (“to weave”). Displaced native Old English smēag (literally “creeping”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʌt(ə)l/, , enPR: sŭt'(ə)l
• Rhymes: -ʌtəl

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

subtle (comparative subtler or more subtle, superlative subtlest or most subtle)

1. Hard to grasp; not obvious or easily understood.

   Antonym: simple

2. Barely noticeable, not obvious, indistinct.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:indistinct

   Antonyms: distinct; see also Thesaurus:distinct

   The difference is subtle, but you can hear it if you listen carefully.

   • 1712, Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem. Demonstrating the Existence and Providence of a God. In Seven Books, book I, London: Printed for S. Buckley, at the Dolphin in Little-Britain; and J Tonson, at Shakespear's Head over-against Catherine-Street in the Strand, OCLC 731619916; 5th edition, Dublin: Printed by S. Powell, for G. Risk, G. Ewing, and W. Smith, in Dame's-street, 1727, OCLC 728300884, page 7:

     The mighty Magnet from the Center darts / This ſtrong, tho' ſubtile Force, thro' all the Parts: / Its active Rays ejaculated thence, / Irradiate all the wide Circumference.

3. (of a thing) Cleverly contrived.
4. (of a person or animal) Cunning, skillful.

   Synonyms: crafty, cunning, skillful

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Genesis 3:1:

     Now the serpent was more subtill then any beast of the field, which the LORD God had made, and he said vnto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of euery tree of the garden?

5. Insidious.

   Synonyms: deceptive, malicious

   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 173:

     And if King Edward be as true and iuſt, / As I am Subtle, Falſe, and Treacherous,

6. Tenuous; rarefied; of low density or thin consistency.
7. (obsolete) Refined; exquisite.

Derived terms

Translations

References

• “subtle”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “subtle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “subtle”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Anagrams

• bluest, bluets, bustle, butles, sublet