subtlety
Americannoun
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the state or quality of being subtle.
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delicacy or nicety of character or meaning.
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acuteness or penetration of mind; delicacy of discrimination.
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a fine-drawn distinction; refinement of reasoning.
the subtleties of logic.
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something subtle.
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History/Historical. an elaborate confection, ornate in construction and ornamentation, sometimes edible but more often made and used as a decoration for a table or buffet.
noun
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the state or quality of being subtle; delicacy
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a fine distinction or the ability to make such a distinction
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something subtle
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of subtlety
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English subtelte, sutilte, from Old French sutilte, from Latin subtīlitāt-, stem of subtīlitās “fineness,” equivalent to subtīli(s) “fine, slender” ( see subtile) + -ty 2
Explanation
Subtlety is the quality of being understated, delicate, or nuanced. You can really appreciate the subtlety of your gothic friend's art if you can distinguish among many different shades of black. The Latin root of subtle and subtlety originally meant "finely woven" and was used to describe fabric. The subtlety of an argument is in the fine weave of the words and thoughts that it is made up of. When translating, you often lose the subtleties of the original language, the interlacing of word, idea and connotation. When you're trying to persuade your parents of something, subtlety might get you further than outright demands.
Vocabulary lists containing subtlety
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
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The Tempest
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Norse Mythology
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Subtlety has never been a Ryan Murphy signature, so not even the food porn in “Grotesquerie” offers a safe harbor.
From Salon • Oct. 4, 2024
Subtlety would help the audience understand how to read it.
From New York Times • Feb. 6, 2024
Subtlety has no home on Twitter, where everything is its own headline.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2022
In 2014, her first large-scale public project was A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby, a colossal sugar-coated monument of a sphinxlike woman located on the former site of Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar Factory.
From Slate • Oct. 31, 2019
Subtlety is not enough; it must be a servant to the right methods of investigation.
From The Next Step in Religion An Essay toward the Coming Renaissance by Sellars, Roy Wood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
