SUBTILE

Definition: SUBTILE

SUBTILE

Adjective

1. Sly; artful; cunning; crafty; subtle; as, a subtile person; a subtile adversary; a subtile scheme.

2. Characterized by nicety of discrimination; discerning; delicate; refined; subtle.

3. Acute; piercing; searching.

4. Delicately constituted or constructed; nice; fine; delicate; tenuous; finely woven.

5. Thin; not dense or gross; rare; as, subtile air; subtile vapor; a subtile medium.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Date "SUBTILE" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Etymology: Subtile \Sub"tile\, adjective. [Latin expression subtilis. See Subtile.]. (Websters 1913)

"SUBTILE" is a common misspelling or typo for: subtitle, subtle.

Tips from 1870

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonym: SUBTILE

Levity

Adjective: light, subtile, airy; imponderous, imponderable; astatic, weightless, ethereal, sublimated; gossamery; suberose, suberous; uncompressed, volatile; buoyant, floating. Verb: portable.

Rarity

Adjective: rare, subtile, thin, fine, tenuous, compressible, flimsy, slight; light; cavernous, spongy. (hollow).

Texture

Textural, textile; fine grained, coarse grained; fine, delicate, subtile, gossamery, filmy, silky, satiny; coarse; homespun.

Crosswords: SUBTILE

Books

• Antiaesthetics: An Appreciation of the Cow With the Subtile Nose (Synthese Library, 174) (reference)

• Debussy : la révolution subtile (reference)

• Discourse of the Subtile Practices of Devilles by Witches and Sorcerers (reference)

• Eros, die subtile Energie : Studie zur anthropologischen Psychologie des zwischenmenschlichen Potentials (reference)

• Jean Duns Scot, ou, La révolution subtile (reference)

  (more book examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

It is an ocean of subtile intelligences.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Albanian

i mprehtë (acute, astute, bright, clairvoyant, Clarion, discerning, edgy, exquisite, fine, high, high pitched, incisive, ingenious, keen, keen-witted, knowing, nimble, penetrating, penetrative, perceptive, percipient, perspicacious, piercing, piping, pointed, pungent, quick, ridged, ridgy, sagacious, salt, sharp, sharp cut, shrill, subtle, tart, trenchant), i lehtë (airy, downhill, easy, effortless, ethereal, etherial, expedite, facile, feathery, flimsy, frothy, gauzy, glib, gossamer, gossamery, light, lightweight, mild, pale, ready, sheer, simple, slight, subtle, toilless, trifling, tripping, walkaway, weak, weightless), i hollë (dainty, delicate, dinky, discerning, egg shell, exquisite, flimsy, gauzy, gossamer, gossamery, ingenious, keen, liny, meager, meagre, nice, paper, papery, perceptive, percipient, perspicacious, politic, sleazy, slender, slim, small, spidery, spindling, spindly, subtle, tenuous, thin, Twiggy, washy), delikat (delicate, fine, fragile, frail, hothouse, kid glove, subtle). (various references)

Greek 

πανούργοσ (arch, artful, astute, canny, crafty, cunning, designing, parlous, pawky, sharp, shrewd, sly, slyish, subtle, vulpine, wily), ευφυήσ (bright, clever, ingenious, subtle, witty), λεπτόσ (dainty, delicate, exquisite, fine, flimsy, gossamery, lank, nice, rangy, refined, sleazy, slender, slight, slim, slimsy, subtle, svelte, tactful, tenuous, thin, ticklish, waspish). (various references)

Italian

sottile (delicate, fine, gaunt, keen, lean, sharp, shrewd, slender, slight, slim, small, subtle, thin), tenue (faint, feeble, slender, slight, soft, subtle, tenuous), minuzioso (carefully, detailed, exact, exactly, meticulous, minute, narrow, nice, niggling, precise, precisely, searching, subtle, thorough), fino (as far as, even, fine, pure, subtle, thin, till, up to), fine (chic, close, closure, conclusion, dainty, end, ending, fine, finish, object, purpose, result, sake, subtle, termination, thin), delicato (dainty, delicate, fine, gentle, maidenly, refined, sensitive, slight, soft, sore, subtle, tender, thin, ticklish, touchy, tricky). (various references)

Pig Latin

ubtilesay

Portuguese

sutil (dainty, delicate, fine, keen, penetrating, pervasive, refined, subtil, subtle), vivo (above-ground, active, acute, adroit, agile, alert, alive, argute, bobbish, bouncing, brainy, breezy, bright, brisk, buoyant, chirpy, clear-sighted, clinking, coltish, cork, corky, crisp, dapper, diagram, fervent, frisky, gaudy, gay, graphic, graphical, hasty, hurry, intense, juicy, keen, kittenish, knowing, light, lightsome, live, lively, living, luminous, lusty, mercurial, mettled, mettlesome, nimble, nippy, parky, perky, pert, picturesque, poignant, quick, racy, rattling, resilient, shrewd, smart, spanking, speaking, spirited, sprightly, spry, stirring, subtil, subtle, swift, swift-handed, vivacious, vivid, volatile, warm, watchful, zippy), penetrante (acerbic, biting, bitter, clear-sighted, discriminating, incisive, in-depth, keen, penetrating, penetrative, perspicacious, pervasive, piercing, pointed, screaming, screamy, searching, sharp, sharply, shooting, shrill, smart, subtil, subtle), misterioso (arcane, daedal, eerie, eery, impenetrable, mysterious, occult, oracular, orphic, recondite, subtil, subtle, uncanny, unsearchable, weird), fino (braw, choice, dainty, delicate, dressy, exquisite, fine, gallant, gaunt, genteel, gentlemanly, gossamer, keen, knowing, lean, nice, nobby, out-and-out, posh, refined, select, sharp, sheer, sleazy, slender, slim, smart, stylish, subtil, subtle, tactful, tasteful, tenuous, thin, well-bred, well-made, wispy), astuto (acute, adroit, arch, artful, astucious, astute, canny, clearheaded, clever, crafty, cunning, designing, guileful, jesuitic, jesuitical, leery, longheaded, machiavellian, perspicacious, sharp, shifty, shrewd, sly, smart, sophisticated, subtil, subtle, tricksy, tricky, vulpine, wily), arguto (politic, sagacious, sharp, shrewd, smart, subtil, subtle). (various references)

Romanian

fin (beautiful, choice, delicate, delicately, discriminating, excellent, fine, fine-drawn, finely, fine-spun, godchild, godson, gossamer, graceful, keen, nice, penetrating, quick, refined, select, sharp, shrewd, slender, soft, spidery, subtly, tenuous). (various references)

Spanish

sutil (acute, fine, hairsplitting, nice, nugatory, shrewd, subtle), misterioso (dark, eerie, eery, eldritch, inscrutable, intriguing, lurid, mysterious, occult, odd, oracular, puzzling, queer, shrouded in mystery, spooky, subtil, subtle, uncanny, weird), fino (choice, dainty, delicate, discriminating, fine, gaunt, genteel, gossamer, ladylike, lean, nice, polished, refined, semiprecious, sharp, sheer, shrewd, slender, suave, subtil, subtle, thin), delicado (daintier, dainty, dead, delicate, exquisite, fastidious, finicky, frail, fussy, hard to please, hard to speak, hypersensitive, kid glove, killed, particular, polite, refined, sharp, squeamish, subtle, tenderly, too sensitive, very sensitive). (various references)

Turkish

zeki (apt, as fresh as paint, astute, brainy, bright, brilliant, clear, clever, cute, discerning, ingenious, intellectual, intelligent, keen, keen-witted, longheaded, luminous, neat, nifty, nimble-witted, penetrating, penetrative, perceptional, perspicacious, quick of comprehension, quick on the trigger, quick-witted, sapient, sharp, sharp-witted, shrewd, smart, sparkling, spiritual, subtle, understanding), ustaca yapılmış (ingenious, subtle), usta (adept, adroit, artist, connoisseur, constructor, craftsman, dab, dabster, deft, dexterous, experienced, expert, facile, hand, ingenious, intelligent, journeyman, master, old hand, proficient, shark, skilful, skilled, skillful, slick, versed, whizz, wise, workman, Wright), tatlı (afters, agreeable, amiable, beautiful, blancmange, delightful, dessert, dulcet, fruity, honeyed, honied, luscious, mellifluent, mellifluous, mellow, pleasant, saccharine, sapid, silken, silky, smooth, soft, suave, subtle, sugary, sweet, sweetie, sweeties, sweetmeat, toothsome), kurnaz (arch, artful, astute, cagey, calculating, canny, cattish, catty, coon, crafty, cunning, cute, designing, dodger, dodgy, downy, feline, Fox, foxy, hard boiled, heady, knowing, leery, politic, quirky, roguish, serpentine, sharp, shifty, shrewd, slick, slim, sly, sly old fox, slyboots, smart, tricky, vulpine, weasel, wheeler dealer, wide awake, wily, wise guy), kolay farkedilmez, ince (attenuate, attic, brittle, civilized, courteous, dainty, delicate, fine, fragile, graceful, gracile, gracious, keen, lean, nice, polite, precision, refined, scarious, sharp, slender, slim, subtle, sylphish, sylphlike, sylphy, tenuous, thin, trickish, tricksy, tricky, urbane, vaporous), hoş (affable, agreeable, beautiful, bonny, canny, charming, clean-cut, congenial, debonair, debonaire, delectable, delicious, delightful, desirable, elegant, enjoyable, fine, fragrant, handsome, jolly, kind, kindly, likable, likeable, lovable, lovely, nice, nicely, pleasant, pleasing, pleasurable, prettily, pretty, sapid, smart, smooth, suave, subtle, sweetly, tuneful, well, winning, winsome). (various references)

Ukrainian

тонкий (acute, capillary, gauzy, nice, sleazy, slim, soft, spidery, subtle, tenuous, thin), гострий (abrupt, acrid, acrimonious, acute, argute, bad, barbed, biting, eager, edgy, incisive, keen, nimble, nutty, piercing, poignant, pointed, pungent, quick, savoury, sharp, splitting, subtle, trenchant, zestful), витончений (airy, attic, bijou, choice, curious, dainty, delicate, elegant, fastidious, fine, lepid, nice, rarefied, refined, slender, slinky, subtle, super, twee, zing). (various references)

subtilis. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "SUBTILE": subtilely, subtileness, subtilenesses, subtiler, subtilest. (additional references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: blites, bluest, bluets, bustle, butles, sublet, subtle.

-2 letters: belts, biles, bites, blest, blets, blite, blues, bluet, built, butes, butle, etuis, ileus, islet, istle, lieus, lubes, lutes, stile, suite, tiles, tubes, tules, utile.

-3 letters: bels, belt, best, bets, bile, bise, bite, bits, blet, blue, bust, bute, buts, etui, isle, leis, lest, lets, libs, lies.

+1 letter: bulgiest, bulkiest, bulliest, burliest, bustline, subtiler, subtitle, suitable.

+2 letters: baulkiest, bedquilts, bisulfate, bisulfite, blousiest, blueshift, bluesiest, blueticks, blurriest, brutalise, bubbliest, bulletins, buntlines, burbliest, bustlines, butleries, clubbiest, jubilates, nubbliest, rubbliest, stubblier, sublimate, sublimest, subtilely, subtilest, subtilize, subtitled, subtitles, thuribles, tilburies, tullibees, vestibule.

+3 letters: absolutive, absolutize, bisulfates, bisulfites, bluepoints, blueprints, blueshifts, blustering, boilersuit, brutalised, brutalises, brutalizes, columbites, crumbliest, disputable, filibuster, litterbugs, lubricates, nebulosity, nubilities, oubliettes, outbullies, quodlibets, rubellites, spittlebug, stubbliest, subdialect, subletting, sublimated, sublimates, subtilized, subtilizes, subtilties, subtleties, tribulates, unsuitable, vestibular, vestibuled, vestibules.