subtle Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
    elusive.
    • his whole attitude had undergone a subtle change
    • a subtle difference
    • that elusive thing the soul
  2. adjective satellite able to make fine distinctions
    • a subtle mind
  3. adjective satellite working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way
    insidious; pernicious.
    • glaucoma is an insidious disease
    • a subtle poison

WordNet

Sub"tle adjective
Etymology
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.
Wordforms
comparative Subtler ; superlative Subtlest
Definitions
  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. Subtle is the most comprehensive of these epithets and implies the finest intellectual quality. See Shrewd, and Cunning.

Webster 1913