subtile
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of subtile
1325–75; Middle English < Latin subtīlis fine (originally of fabric), equivalent to sub- sub- + -tīlis, akin to tēla cloth on a loom, loom (< *tekslā, derivative of texere to weave; see text)
Example Sentences
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See Examples For:
Recent scientific discoveries have conferred upon man new powers of investigation, whereby nature has been made to reveal secrets so subtile that they never had been dreamt of before in philosophy.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 13, 2013
At Paris the Universe is seen, compos’d of Vortices of subtile Matter; but nothing like it is seen in London.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Gage Well said, but will this subtile reasoning stand?
From The Poems of Philip Freneau, Volume I (of III) by Freneau, Philip
The Moment, continued I, that any Particles of Air or Fire more subtile and agitated than others rise, an equivalent Portion of others must necessarily descend at the same time to supply their Place.
From The Travels and Adventures of James Massey by Patot, Simon Tyssot de
We find doctors in the first ages speaking to us of God and the soul as material substances, more subtile indeed than ordinary bodies.
From Ecce Homo! A Critical Inquiry into the History of Jesus of Nazareth: Being a Rational Analysis of the Gospels by Holbach, Paul Henry Thiry Baron d'
No, his temperament needed a subtiler atmosphere than this, rarer essence than mere brutal freedom.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 50, December, 1861 by Various
No, his temperament needed a subtiler atmosphere than this, rarer essence than mere brutal freedom The East, the Old World, was his proper sphere for self-development.
From Margret Howth, a Story of To-day by Davis, Rebecca Harding
Something keener than philosophy, subtiler than Epicurus, pricked Fred, as Minnie vanished into the cloud of snowflakes.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 18, April, 1859 by Various
That cause of motion he makes the Materia Subtilis; and the finer or subtiler that is, the better and fitter he conceives it to be to preserve Motion.
From Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society - Vol 1 - 1666 Giving some Accompt of the present Undertakings, Studies, and Labours of the Ingenious in many considerable parts of the World by Oldenburg, Henry
Bread is a binder, and for that abolisht even in their Ale, whose lost room fills an apple, which is more airy and of subtiler nature.
From The Scornful Lady by Fletcher, John
It was this mastery of the interior life, this impassioned voicing of its subtilest secrets, that made Rousseau so irresistibly attractive to women.
From The Friendships of Women by Alger, William Rounseville
He was the farthest reach of subtlety compatible with an individual self,--the subtilest of authors, and only just within the possibility of authorship.
From Beacon Lights of History, Volume 13 Great Writers; Dr Lord's Uncompleted Plan, Supplemented with Essays by Emerson, Macaulay, Hedge, and Mercer Adam by Lord, John
She took yellow honeysuckles from a vase of massed amethyst and began to weave them in her yellow hair,—humming a tune, the while, that was full of the subtilest curves of sound.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, No. 67, May, 1863 by Various
The notion of nonentity may thus be called the parent of the philosophic craving in its subtilest and profoundest sense.
From The Will to Believe : and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by James, William
He saw it was lovable, and he made it the theme of his noblest poems, his subtilest philosophies, and his highest Art.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 44, June, 1861 Creator by Various
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
