subtly en · ADV
Pronunciation
- /ˈsʌ.tl̩.li/ (UK)
- /ˈsʌt.li/ (General-American)
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈsʌt.li/ (UK)
- /ˈsʌt.l̩.li/ (General-American)
Etymology
From Middle English sotilly; equivalent to subtle + -ly.
Meanings
-
With subtleness, in a subtle manner; with cleverness rather than brute force.
As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.
2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848, archived from the original on 09 Mar 2023:For though Contraria iuxta ſe poſita magis illuceſcunt [opposites placed next to each other shine more brightly] (by an olde Rule) yet it hath beene ſubtilly, and indeede truely noted that our Sight, is not vvell contented, vvith thoſe ſudden departments, from one extreame to another; Therefore let them haue, rather a Duskiſh Tincture, then an abſolute blacke.
1624, Henry Wotton, The Elements of Architecture, […], London: […] Iohn Bill, →OCLC, II. part, page 104:Nexte cometh Arrius by ſoo muche the more wretched and madde in opynyon, by howe muche he dothe more ſubtely and craftily geue unto Chriſt the body of a man, and taketh from hym the ſowle of a man, […]
1533, Erasmus of Roterdame, “The Thyrde Instruction”, in William Marshall, transl., A Playne and Godly Exposytion or Declaration of the Commune Crede (which in the Latin Tonge is Called Symbolum Apostolorum): And of the .x. Commaundementes of Goddes Law. […], London: […] Robert Redman, […] [for William Marshall], →OCLC, folio 66, verso:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| subtlely | alternative, obsolete | lexicographic | |
| more subtly | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| subtilly | alternative, obsolete | lexicographic | |
| most subtly | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |
Translations (16)
bg ловко (with subtleness, in a subtle manner) · tr altan altan (with subtleness, in a subtle manner) · gl sutilmente (with subtleness, in a subtle manner) · it velatamente (with subtleness, in a subtle manner) · it sottilmente (with subtleness, in a subtle manner) · pt sutilmente (with subtleness, in a subtle manner) · es sutilmente (with subtleness, in a subtle manner) · it subdolamente (with subtleness, in a subtle manner) · bg хитро (with subtleness, in a subtle manner) · pl subtelnie (with subtleness, in a subtle manner) · fi hienovaraisesti (with subtleness, in a subtle manner) · bg изкусно (with subtleness, in a subtle manner) · pl delikatnie (with subtleness, in a subtle manner) · eo subtile (with subtleness, in a subtle manner) · fr subtilement (with subtleness, in a subtle manner) · ca subtilment (with subtleness, in a subtle manner)