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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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
The question at issue here is one of those profound and subtile ones which cannot be approached by argument, but can be decided only by a seeing.
From Know the Truth; A critique of the Hamiltonian Theory of Limitation by Jesse H. Jones
One seeks to accommodate one's self to her doctrine through subtile distinctions.
From The Catholic World; Volume I, Issues 1-6 A Monthly Eclectic Magazine by E. Rameur
Of a more subtile wit and a finer grain was Harte, who did his best work as a humorist in California.
From A Breeze from the Woods, 2nd Ed. by William Chauncey Bartlett
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
It is the subtiler nature of doubt to penetrate the heart more profoundly than confidence, and to underlie it.
From Two Days' Solitary Imprisonment 1898 by Edward Bellamy
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 Rebecca Harding Davis
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 Henry Oldenburg
Is not the Heat of the warm Room convey'd through the Vacuum by the Vibrations of a much subtiler Medium than Air, which after the Air was drawn out remained in the Vacuum?
From Opticks or, a Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections, and Colours of Light by Sir Isaac Newton
Said to us, during the past season, the subtilest thinker of Great Britain,—"I must send to America whatever I wish to put in print, unless I pay for its publication from my own pocket."
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 12, October, 1858 by Various
In such spaces he may dream his dreams, tell his stories, and stamp on them for centuries his subtilest and divinest thoughts.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 799, April 25, 1891 by Various
At some far-away period in childhood it got imbedded in my fancy, and in process of time had acquired that subtilest, indefinable fascination which belongs only to imaginative reminiscence.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 88, February, 1865 by Various
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
Truth is a point; the subtilest and finest; harder than adamant; never to be broken, worn away, or blunted.
From Imaginary Conversations and Poems A Selection by Walter Savage Landor
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