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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

subtile en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • /ˈsʌb.təl/
  • /ˈsʌt.əl/
  • /ˈsʌb.tɪl/

Etymology

From Latin subtilis (“fine, thin, slender, delicate”).

Meanings

  1. (alt-of, archaic) Archaic spelling of subtle.
    alt of subtle
    • And sometimes this perception, in some kind of bodies, is far more subtile than the sense; so that the sense is but a dull thing in comparison of it: we see a weather-glass will find the least difference of the weather, in heat, or cold, when men find it not. 1819, Francis Bacon, The Works of Francis Bacon, volume 2, page 2:
    • For wisedome which is the worker of all things, taught mee: for in her is an vnderstanding spirit holy, one onely, manifold, subtile, liuely, cleare, vndefiled, plaine, not subiect to hurt, louing the thing that is good, quicke, which cānot be letted, ready to do good: Kinde to man, stedfast, sure, free from care, hauing all power, ouerseeing all things, and going through all vnderstanding, pure, and most subtile spirits. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Wisdom of Solomon 7:22–23:
    • I burst into mirth at this—I liked him even better when he was subtile than when he was simple. 1888, Henry James, chapter 2, in The Solution:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
subtiler Degree=Cmp lexicographic
subtilest Degree=Sup lexicographic

Deriveds

supersubtile · subtileness · oversubtile · subtile body · subtility · subtilely