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; see 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
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'
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 Jones, Jesse H.
For Eutychius,149 bishop of that city, taught, that our body, in the glory of resurrection, would be impalpable, and more subtile than wind and air.
From Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England by Bede, Cuthbert
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.
