Subtle

Adjective

 * 1) Hard to grasp; not obvious or easily understood; barely noticeable.
 * The difference is subtle, but you can hear it if you listen carefully.
 * 1)  Cleverly contrived.
 * 2)  Cunning, skillful.
 * 3) insidious
 * 4) * 1623, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third, act iv, scene 4,
 * Thy age confirmed, proud, subtle, bloody, treacherous.
 * 1) Tenuous; rarefied; of low density or thin consistency.

Synonyms

 * crafty, cunning, skillful
 * insidious

Related terms

 * subtile
 * subtlety
 * subtly

Thesaurus
Byzantine, Machiavellian, Machiavellic, abstruse, accurate, acute, adulterated, air-built, airy, analytic, analytical, appreciative, arcane, arch, artful, astute, attentive, attenuate, attenuated, balled up, boyish, cagey, calculating, canny, casuistic, chimerical, civilized, clever, close, cloud-built, complex, complicated, concealed, confounded, confused, conscientious, constant, convoluted, correct, crabbed, crafty, creamy, critical, cultivated, cultured, cunning, cut, cute, daedal, dainty, deceitful, deceptive, deep, deep-laid, delicate, demanding, designing, detailed, devious, dexterous, diaphanous, differential, dilute, diluted, diplomatic, direct, discriminate, discriminating, discriminative, distinctive, distinguishing, dreamlike, eggshell, elaborate, elegant, elusive, embrangled, entangled, ethereal, even, exact, exacting, exigent, express, exquisite, faint, faithful, fanciful, fastidious, fatuitous, fatuous, feline, fine, fine-drawn, finespun, finical, finicking, finicky, flat, flimsy, fouled up, foxy, frail, fussy, gaseous, gauzy, girlish, gloss, gossamer, gossamery, graceful, gracile, gracious, guileful, hairline, hairsplitting, hidden, illusory, imaginary, implicated, inerrable, inerrant, infallible, ingenious, insidious, insubstantial, intricate, inventive, involuted, involved, iridescent, knotted, knowing, labyrinthian, labyrinthine, lacy, light, loused up, many-faceted, mathematical, matted, mazy, meandering, mellow, messed up, meticulous, micrometrically precise, microscopic, minute, misty, mixed up, mother-of-pearl, mucked up, multifarious, nacreous, narrow, nebulous, nice, obscure, opalescent, pale, papery, particular, pastel, patinaed, pawky, pearly, perplexed, phantomlike, pinpoint, polished, politic, precise, precisianistic, precisionistic, profound, punctilious, punctual, quiet, ramified, rare, rarefied, ratiocinative, ready, recondite, refined, religious, religiously exact, remote, resourceful, rigid, rigorous, roundabout, sad, scheming, scientific, scientifically exact, screwed up, scrupulous, scrutinizing, selective, semigloss, sensitive, serpentine, severe, shadowy, sharp, shifty, shrewd, simple, skillful, slender, slenderish, slick, slight, slight-made, slim, slimmish, slimy, slinky, slippery, sly, small, smarmy, smart, smooth, snaky, snarled, sneaky, sober, soft, soft-colored, soft-hued, softened, somber, sophistical, sophisticated, spirituous, square, stealthy, strategic, strict, subdued, subtile, supple, svelte, sweet, sylphlike, tactful, tactical, tangled, tangly, tender, tenuous, thin, thin-bodied, thin-set, thin-spun, thinned, thinned-out, thinnish, threadlike, trickish, tricksy, tricky, twisted, uncompact, uncompressed, underhanded, undeviating, unerring, unreal, unsubstantial, vague, vaporous, veiled, vulpine, wary, wasp-waisted, watered, watered-down, watery, weak, willowy, wily, windy, wiredrawn, wispy

Alternative forms

 * subtil (obsolete)
 * subtile (obsolete)

Etymology
From sotil:, subtil:, from  soutil:, later subtil:,  subtil:, from  subtilis:;  probably, originally, “woven fine”, and from sub: + tela:, from texere:.

Translations

 * Finnish: ,
 * French: ,
 * German: fast unmerklich, haarfein, dezent, feinsinnig
 * Hebrew: דק, עדין, מעודן, חמקמק, מרומז, עמום, טמיר, עלום
 * Irish:
 * Japanese: 捕らえ難い


 * Polish: subtelny
 * Portuguese:
 * Russian: неуловимый, едва различимый
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish:
 * Turkish: güç algılanan, zor algılanan


 * German: scharfsinnig, ausgetüftelt, schlau
 * Swedish:


 * Turkish: zekîce, ustaca


 * Finnish:
 * German: spitzfindig, raffiniert
 * Irish:
 * Japanese:


 * Russian: ,
 * Swedish:
 * Turkish: kurnazca, mahirane


 * Finnish:
 * Russian: ,


 * Swedish:
 * Turkish: sinsice


 * : subtiel
 * : astucieux
 * : subtil
 * : sottile
 * : subtili


 * : subtil

Anagrams

 * bluest
 * bluets
 * bustle
 * sublet