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subtle |
4 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Subtile \Sub"tile\, a. [L. subtilis. See {Subtile}.] 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.'' --Chaucer. More subtile web Arachne can not spin. --Spenser. I do distinguish plain Each subtile line of her immortal face. --Sir J. Davies. 3. Acute; piercing; searching. The slow disease and subtile pain. --Prior. 5. 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. --Coleridge. The subtile influence of an intellect like Emerson's. --Hawthorne. 5. Sly; artful; cunning; crafty; subtle; as a subtile person; a subtile adversary; a subtile scheme. [In this sense now commonly written {subtle}.] Syn: {Subtile}, {Acute}. 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. -- {Sub"tile*ly}, adv -- {Sub"tile*ness}, n. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Subtle \Sub"tle\, a. [Compar. {Subtler}; superl. {Subtlest}.] [OE. sotil, subtil, OF soutil, later subtil, F. subtil, L. subtilis; probably, originally, woven fine, and fr sub under + tela a web, fr texere to weave. See {Text}, and cf {Subtile}.] 1. Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; -- applied to persons; as a subtle foe. ``A subtle traitor.'' --Shak. 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. --Milton. 4. Smooth and deceptive. [Obs.] Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground [bowling ground]. --Shak. 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}. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: subtle adj 1: be difficult to detect or grasp by the mind; "his whole attitude had undergone a subtle change"; "a subtle difference"; "that elusive thing the soul" [syn: {elusive}] 2: faint and difficult to analyze; "subtle aromas" 3: able to make fine distinctions; "a subtle mind" 4: working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way "a subtle poison" [syn: {insidious}, {pernicious}] From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]: Subtle, KY Zip code(s): 42129
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