subtile
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- nonsubtile adjective
- nonsubtilely adverb
- nonsubtileness noun
- subtilely adverb
- subtileness noun
- subtility noun
- subtilty noun
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; text )
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.
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
La préface de M. Charles GROLLEAU, écrite avec une délicatesse remarquable et une émotion pénétrante, constitue la plus subtile étude psychologique que l’on ait jamais publiée sur Oscar WILDE.
From The Trial of Oscar Wilde From the Shorthand Reports by Anonymous
He will come very near to us in his books, and by that subtile law of communion which, through the brightest and noblest utterances, makes all the better world akin.
From A Breeze from the Woods, 2nd Ed. by Bartlett, William Chauncey
The subtile philosophy of the Greeks was now brought into contact with the sublime but corrupted theology of the Persians, and the mysticism of India secretly mingled itself with the mass of knowledge.
From Secret Societies of the Middle Ages by Keightley, Thomas
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.
