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
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 Rameur, E.
Every one is the symbol of wisdom, and hath, in its malic acid, a subtile essence, which carries health to the morbid liver.
From A Breeze from the Woods, 2nd Ed. by Bartlett, William Chauncey
She was by no means sure if it were her own youth that had called her, conspiring in some subtile way with the push of leaves and grasses out toward the strengthened sunshine.
From An Ambitious Woman A Novel by Fawcett, Edgar
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.
