Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Subtile
1.
Thin; not dense or gross; rare;
as,
. subtile
air; subtile
vapor; a subtile
medium2.
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
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
.] 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
, Noun.
Definition 2024
subtile
subtile
English
Adjective
subtile (comparative subtiler, superlative subtilest)
- (obsolete) subtle
- 1819, Francis Bacon, The Works of Francis Bacon, volume 2, page 2:
- And sometimes this perception, in some kind of bodies, is far more subtile than the sense; so that the sense is but a dull thing in comparison of it: we see a weather-glass will find the least difference of the weather, in heat, or cold, when men find it not.
- 1889, Henry James, The Solution.
- I burst into mirth at this—I liked him even better when he was subtile than when he was simple.
- 1819, Francis Bacon, The Works of Francis Bacon, volume 2, page 2:
Derived terms
External links
- subtile in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- subtile in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
Latin
Adjective
subtīle
- nominative neuter singular of subtīlis
- accusative neuter singular of subtīlis
- vocative neuter singular of subtīlis
References
- SUBTILE in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)