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Definition of Subtlety
1. Noun. A subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude. "Don't argue about shades of meaning"
Generic synonyms: Import, Meaning, Significance, Signification
Derivative terms: Refine
2. Noun. The quality of being difficult to detect or analyze. "You had to admire the subtlety of the distinctions he drew"
Definition of Subtlety
1. n. The quality or state of being subtle, or sly; cunning; craftiness; artfulness.
Definition of Subtlety
1. Noun. The quality or fact of being subtle. ¹
2. Noun. An instance of being subtle, a subtle thing, especially a subtle argument or distinction. ¹
3. Noun. An ornate medieval illusion dish or table decoration, especially when made from one thing but crafted to look like another. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Subtlety
1. the state of being subtle [n -TIES]
Lexicographical Neighbors of Subtlety
Literary usage of Subtlety
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Works of the Right Reverend Joseph Hall by Joseph Hall, Philip Wynter (1863)
"The great subtlety of evil spirits, and the remedy of the fear of it. Power without
malice were harmless, and malice without power were impotent; ..."
2. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (1843)
"... included every offence that the subtlety of lawyers could derive from a hostile
intention toward the prince or republic,(l66) all privileges were ..."
3. The Dictionary of National Biography by Sidney Lee (1908)
"... Queen Elizabeth would say, outdid her expectation, Fortescue for integrity,
and Wal- singham for subtlety and officious services ' (State Worthies, ed. ..."
4. The Living Age by Making of America Project, Eliakim Littell, Robert S. Littell (1868)
"... it obliterated his wonderful power of giving at once splendour and minutely
life-like finish to historic portraits ; it banished all subtlety from his ..."
5. The Living Age by Making of America Project, Eliakim Littell, Robert S. Littell (1880)
"Pliny says that the stag was an automaton, with a mechanical device for setting
it in motion, a detail which hints, at least, at the subtlety of workmanship ..."
6. The Works of Oscar Wilde by Oscar Wilde, Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly (1909)
""A Year in Eden" (T. Fisher Unwin), by Harriet Waters Preston, is a chronicle of
New England life, and is full of the elaborate subtlety of the American ..."
7. Historical and Biographical Essays by John Forster (1858)
"... King's servants before the Declaration "Hampden, out of his serpentine "subtlety,
did still put others to " move those businesses that he con- "trived. ..."
8. Commentaries on American Law by James Kent, Charles M. Barnes (1884)
"... in which the doctrine of consideration is treated * 464 with an air of scholastic
subtlety. ... subtlety ..."
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