Subtlety

Definition: Subtlety

Subtlety

Noun

1. A subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude.

2. The quality of being difficult to detect or analyze; "you had to admire the subtlety of the distinctions he drew".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

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

Etymology: Subtlety \Sub"tle*ty\, noun; plural Subtleties. [from Old English expression sotelte, sutilte, Old French sotillete, from Latin expression subtilitas. See Subtle, and compare to Subtility.]. (references)

Synonyms: Subtlety

Cunning

Noun: cunning, craft; cunningness, craftiness; Adjective: subtlety, artificiality; maneuvering; Verb: temporization; circumvention.

Intelligence Wisdom

Noun: intelligence, capacity, comprehension, understanding; cuteness, sabe , savvy ; intellect; nous, parts, sagacity, mother wit, wit, esprit, gumption, quick parts, grasp of intellect; acuteness; Adjective: acumen, subtlety, penetration, perspicacy, perspicacity; discernment, due sense of, good judgment; discrimination; cunning; refinement; (taste).

Rarity

Noun: rarity, tenuity; absence of solidity; subtility; subtilty, subtlety; sponginess, compressibility.

Reasoning,

Sophism, solecism, paralogism; quibble, quirk, elenchus, elench, fallacy, quodlibet, subterfuge, subtlety, quillet; inconsistency, antilogy; "a delusion, a mockery, and a snare"; claptrap, cant, mere words; "lame and impotent conclusion".

Crosswords: Subtlety

It's called subtlety, Stu. You should look it up sometime (Scream; writing credit: Kevin Williamson)

'Cause I'm not real great with subtlety. (Lake Placid; writing credit: David E. Kelley)

You make love as you eat, with a great deal of noise and no subtlety! (Anne of the Thousand Days; writing credit: Maxwell Anderson; Bridget Boland)

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

Books

• Japanese Negotiator Subtlety and Strategy (reference)

• Juggling & Feats of Dexterity: Amazing Acts of Skill and Subtlety for the Domestic Arena (Pocket Entertainment) (reference)

• Sense and Nonsense of Statistical Inference: Controversy, Misuse, and Subtlety (Popular Statistics, No 6) (reference)

• Subtlety of Shaw (reference)

• The Japanese Negotiator: Subtlety and Strategy Beyond Western Logic (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• In the Absence of Subtlety (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

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

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Albanian

mprehtësi (acuity, acumen, acuteness, clairvoyance, discernment, edge, insight, penetration, perspicacity, poignancy, quickness, resourcefulness, salt, sharpness), hollësi (circumstantiality, daintiness, detail, exility, feature, particularity, point, specification, tenuity), finesë (finesse, nicety, refinement), delikatesë (delicacy, nicety, refinement, regale). (various references)

Arabic 

‏حدة الذهن (perspicacity, sharpness), ‏رقة (airiness, benignity, daintiness, delicacy, fineness, finesse, flimsiness, forgiveness, geniality, gentleness, graciousness, loveliness, neatness, polish, refinement, sensitiveness, sensitivity, sleeplessness, softness, suavity, tenderling, tenderness, tenuity, tenuousness, thinness), ‏شىء رقيق, ‏دقة (accuracy, closeness, delicacy, exactitude, exactness, fidelity, fineness, finesse, fussiness, nicety, preciseness, precision, promptitude, punctuality, refinement, reliability, rigor, rigour, strictness, sureness, tenuity, thoroughness, veracity). (various references)

Bulgarian 

финост, финес (daintiness, delicacy, fineness, nicety, refinement), тънкост (delicacy, exility, fineness, tenuity), неуловимост, нежност (fragility, gentleness, tenderness), лукавство (archness, craft, craftiness, foxiness, furtiveness, guile, wiliness), ловкост (address, adroitness, agility, diplomacy, legerdemain, neatness, skill, sleight, sleight of hand), изтънченост (courtliness, daintiness, delicacy, discrimination, nicety, polish, politeness, refinement, sophistication, urbanity), изкусност (neatness), изисканост (accomplishments, class, daintiness, elegance, elegancy, neatness, polish, politeness, refinement, stylishness, suavity, urbanity). (various references)

Czech

subtilnost, pronikavost (acumen, pungency), lstivost (artfulness, craft, craftiness, guile, slyness, wiliness), jemnost (delicacy, gentleness, mildness, nicety, refinement, softness), bystrost (acumen, brightness, quickness, smartness). (various references)

Dutch

slimheid (cunning, slyness), doortraptheid (cunning, slyness). (various references)

Esperanto

ruzeco (cunning, slyness). (various references)

Farsi 

موشکافی (Scrutiny, Splithair), لطافت (Elegance, Rosewater), تیزبینی ومهارت , زیرکی (Agility, Brilliance, Cogency, Cunning, Intelligence, Perspicacity, Sagacity), باریک بینی (Stricture). (various references)

French

subtilité. (various references)

German

Feinheit (acuteness, delicacy, delicateness, excellence, fineness, intricacy, keenness, niceness, nicety, nuance, poshness, refinement, sensitivity, smartness, thinness). (various references)

Greek 

λεπτότητα (comity, consideration, daintiness, delicacy, fineness, flimsiness, gauziness, niceness, nicety, polish, refinement, sleaziness, slenderness, slightness, slimness, tact, tactfulness, tenuity, tenuousness, thinness, ticklishness, waspishness). (various references)

Hebrew 

ש� י� ות (cleverness, ingeniousness, ingenuity, perspicacity, salt, sarcasm, wit), ע�"י� ות (daintiness, delicacy, fineness, finesse, gentleness, grace, niceness, refinement, softness, tenderness), חריפות (acerbity, acridity, acuteness, sharpness), �"בח� �" �"ק�", �"קות (delicacy, fineness, flimsiness, niceness, nicety, tenuity, thinness). (various references)

Hungarian

finomság (daintiness, delicacy, elegance, elegancy, fineness, finesse, gentility, morbidezza, tenuity, tenuousness, title), finom megkülönböztetés (nice distinction), bonyolultság (complexity, complicacy, complication, difficulty, imbroglio, intricacy). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

機微 (delicate signs, inner workings, niceties). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

きび (20th of the sexagenary cycle, delicate signs, inner workings, leader, millet, niceties, tail). (various references)

Manx

kialg (calculation, craft, craft slyness, craftiness, deceit, duplicity, fiddle, fizz, guile, insidiousness, perfidiousness, sedition, swindle, swizzle, treachery), croutys (deceit). (various references)

Pig Latin

ubtletysay.(various references)

Portuguese

sutileza (acuity, acuteness, exility, finesse), requinte (gentility, perfection, polish, refinement), finura (daintiness, tact, tenderness, tenuity), distinção sutil, argúcia (acuity, acumen, astuteness, sagacity). (various references)

Romanian

subtilitate (acuteness, exility, fineness, finesse, nicety, refinement, sagacity, shrewdness), viclenie (archness, artfulness, astuteness, catch, contrivance, craft, cunning, devilry, finesse, fraud, guile, ruse, shift, vicleim, wile), rafinament (accomplishments, courtliness, daintiness, gentility, refinement, sophistication), perfidie (cattiness, devilry, falsity, foulness, hollowness, perfidiousness, perfidy, treachery), fineţe (delicacy, fineness, finesse, nicety, refinement), chiţibuş (detail, shift, trifle), agerime (alacrity, discernment, edge, perspicacity, quickness, sharpness, wit). (various references)

Russian 

утонченность (daintiness, delicacy, exility, nicety, refinement), хитрость (archness, artfulness, catch, circumvention, craft, craftiness, double, fetch, finesse, guile, management, slyness, stealth, stratagem, trick, trickery, trickiness, wile, wiliness), тонкость (exility, fine point, fineness, finesse, shrewdness, subtleness, thinness, twists and turns), нежность (dearness, fondness, tenderness), искусность (cleverness, ingenuity, neatness, skillfulness). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

suptilnost, veština (ability, art, attainment, cleverness, craft, cunning, excellence, facility, knack, know how, masterliness, skill, technique, wizardry, workmanship), lukavost (artfulness, astuteness, cunning, foxiness, shrewdness), finoća (fineness). (various references)

Spanish

sutileza (finesse, niceness, nicety, quibble, quiddity). (various references)

Swedish

subtilitet, raffinemang (refinement, sophistication), hårfin skillnad. (various references)

Turkish

zekilik (aptness, incisiveness, intelligence, keenness, sharpness, shrewdness, smartness, subtility), ustalık (art, artfulness, craftsmanship, deftness, dexterity, expertness, facility, feat, finesse, hand, handiness, ingeniousness, ingenuity, knack, masterliness, mastership, mastery, perfection, proficiency, skill, sleight, subtility, virtuosity, wizardry, workmanship), kurnazlık (archness, art, artfulness, artifice, arts, astuteness, craftiness, cunning, dodge, finesse, foxiness, guile, shenanigan, shiftiness, slyness, smartness, stratagem, strategy, subtility, trick, wheeler-dealing, wheeling and dealing, wiliness, wrinkle), incelik (civility, courtesy, daintiness, delicacy, discretion, elaborateness, fineness, finesse, fragility, grace, gracefulness, keenness, niceness, nicety, point, polish, politeness, refinement, slenderness, slightness, slimness, subtility, tact, thinness, touch), ince eleyip sık dokuma (scrutiny), anlaşılmazlık (incomprehensibility, inscrutability, intangibility, intricacy, obscurity, opacity, subtility, unintelligiblity). (various references)

Ukrainian

тонкість (delicacy, fineness, finesse, polish, quiddity, quillet), гострота (acridity, acrimony, acuity, acumen, acuteness, pepper, piquancy, poignancy, pungency, quickness, savor, savour, sharpness), вправність (address, adroitness, artfulness, competence, competency, craft, deftness, efficiency, neatness, sharpness), витонченість (daintiness, delicacy, elegance, exquisiteness, nicety, preciosity, refinement, smart, sophistication, stylishness). (various references)

Vietnamese 

sự tinh tế sự khôn khéo (subtilty), sự tinh nhanh sự khéo léo (subtilty), sự t� i tình sự xảo quyệt (subtilty), sự quỷ quyệt sự phân biệt tế nhị (subtilty), sự quá tỉ mỉ (hair-splitting, subtilty), sự lanh lợi (agility, cleverness, readiness, subtilty), sự khôn ngoan (sageness, sensibleness, subtilty), tính phảng phất tính huyền ảo sự tinh vi (subtilty). (various references)

versutia. (various references)

finesse. (various references)

Derivations

Words ending with "subtlety": supersubtlety. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Subtlety" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: sabuleti, sublety, subtelty, subtility, subtlely, subtlet, subtley, subtlty, sutlet, suttlety. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-2 letters: bluest, bluesy, bluets, blueys, bustle, butles, buttes, butyls, slutty, stylet, sublet, subtle, subtly.

-3 letters: belts, blest, blets, blues, bluet, bluey, busty, butes, butle, butte, butts, butty, butyl, bytes, lubes, lusty, lutes, style, suety, testy, tubes, tules, yetts, yules.

-4 letters: bels, belt, best, bets, beys, blet, blue, bust, busy, bute, buts, butt, buys, byes.

+1 letter: butylates.

+4 letters: bellybuttons, butterflyers.

+5 letters: obstructively, substantively, supersubtlety.