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
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 Simon Tyssot de Patot
Gage Well said, but will this subtile reasoning stand?
From The Poems of Philip Freneau, Volume I (of III) by Philip Freneau
Its subtile veins, its vivid sheen, Seem fragment of a god's array.
From The Star-Treader and other poems by Clark Ashton Smith
Gradually he wove a drama round it; line by line it took shape for a book that was to be subtiler, finer and more sincere than anything that he had ever written.
From The Education of Eric Lane by Stephen McKenna
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
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
What if, through communication with subtiler organisms than my own, I could reach at a single bound the goal, which perhaps a life of agonizing mental toil would never enable me to attain?
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 01, No. 03, January, 1858 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
I can say, from an experience of over a dozen years, that pupils between twelve and fifteen years of age are immensely interested in such discussions, and are capable of making the subtilest distinctions.
From The Moral Instruction of Children by Felix Adler
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 William James
A book might be written on the Stratagems of Literature, as Frontinus has composed one on War, and among its subtilest heroes we might place this great poet.
From Calamities and Quarrels of Authors by Isaac Disraeli
This is a truth that takes all the sting out of Lord Bacon's observation that "against Atheists the very savages take part with the very subtilest philosophers."
From Flowers of Freethought (Second Series) by G. W. (George William) Foote
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.
