| English Dictionary |
SUBTLE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does subtle mean?
• SUBTLE (adjective)
The adjective SUBTLE has 3 senses:
1. difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
2. able to make fine distinctions
3. working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way
Familiarity information: SUBTLE used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: subtlest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
Synonyms:
elusive; subtle
Context example:
that elusive thing the soul
Similar:
impalpable (imperceptible to the senses or the mind)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Able to make fine distinctions
Context example:
a subtle mind
Similar:
perceptive (having the ability to perceive or understand; keen in discernment)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way
Synonyms:
insidious; pernicious; subtle
Context example:
a subtle poison
Similar:
harmful (causing or capable of causing harm)
Context examples
Sometimes it is some surer and subtler means.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
A form of therapy that involves systems using "subtle energy" fields in and around the body for medical/therapeutic purposes.
(Biofield Therapy, NCI Thesaurus)
Again, the researchers traced the problem to contamination from damaged cages, but the effects this time were more subtle than before.
(Reproductive Problems Reported In Lab Mice after BPA Replacements in Plastics, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
At last I felt that subtle change in the air, and knew that the morning had come.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
And she was as direct as she was subtle.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
An index of the variation in the size of the red cells and can be used to detect subtle degress of anisocytosis.
(Erythrocyte Distribution Width Measurement, NCI Thesaurus)
The news of it was borne in upon him, not by sight, or sound, or smell, but by some other and subtler sense.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
There was a change in him somewhere, a change so marked that it was the first thing that I noticed, and yet so subtle that I could not put words to it.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
A protein region consisting of a very small variety of residues, including homopolymeric runs, short-period repeats, and more subtle overrepresentation of one or a few residues.
(Low Complexity Region, NCI Thesaurus)
I could tell by numerous subtle signs, which might have been lost upon anyone but myself, that Holmes was on a hot scent.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"«He who teaches himself hath a fool for a teacher», but he who does not teach himself has no teachers at all." (Christopher Berkeley)
"Close the door from which the wind blows and relax." (Arabic proverb)
"Every little pot has a fitting lid." (Dutch proverb)