subtlety

English

WOTD – 16 April 2007

Alternative forms

subtilty (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English sotilte, from Old French sutilté, inherited from Latin subtīlitās, from subtīlis (“subtle”). Equivalent to subtle +‎ -ty. Doublet of subtility.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsʌt(ə)lti/
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (AU) (file)

Noun

subtlety (countable and uncountable, plural subtleties)

(uncountable) The quality of being subtle.
1. (of things) The quality of being scarcely noticeable or difficult to discern.
  the subtlety of the Mona Lisa’s smile
  - 1964, Saul Bellow, Herzog, New York: Viking, pp. 248-249,
    […] he had a lifetime of skill in interpreting his father’s gestures: those bent knees meant that something of great subtlety was about to be revealed.
2. (of things) The quality of being done in a clever way that is not obvious or not direct; the quality of being carefully thought out.
  the subtlety of a writer’s analysis / of a singer’s phrasing
  Synonym: refinement
3. (of people) The quality of being able to achieve one's aims through clever, delicate or indirect methods.
  With all his usual subtlety, he quietly fixed the problem before anyone else noticed it.
  Synonyms: discretion, finesse, savoir-faire
  - 1979, William Styron, Sophie’s Choice, New York: Random House, Chapter 3, p. 74,
    European women often boss their men too, but with a beguiling subtlety unknown to most American females.
4. (of people) The quality of being able to notice or understand things that are not obvious.
  Synonyms: acumen, perceptiveness, perspicacity
  - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Proverbs 1:4:
    To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
  - 1770, Oliver Goldsmith, The Life of Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, London: T. Davies, p. 7,
    his subtilty in thinking and reasoning were profound,
(countable) An instance of being subtle, a subtle thing, especially a subtle argument or distinction.
The subtleties of this overture are often overlooked.
Synonyms: nicety, nuance
- 1561, William Whittingham et al. (translators), Geneva Bible, Wisdom of Solomon 8.8,
  […] she [Wisdom] knoweth the subtilties of wordes, and the solutions of darke sentences:
- 1661, Robert Boyle, “Physiological Considerations Touching the Experiments Wont to be Employed to Evince either the IV Peripatetick Elements, or the III Chymical Principls of Mixt Bodies. Part of the First Dialogue.”, in The Sceptical Chymist: or Chymico-physical Doubts & Paradoxes, […], London: […] J. Cadwell for J. Crooke, […], OCLC 1119844633, pages 14–15:
  For I, and no doubt You, have long obſerved, that thoſe Dialectical ſubtleties, that the Schoolmen too often employ about Phyſiological Myſteries, are vvont much more to declare the vvit of him that uſes them, then increaſe the knovvledge or remove the doubts of ſober lovers of truth. And such captious ſubtleties do indeed often puzzle and ſometimes ſilence men, but rarely ſatisfy them.
- 1779, David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Part 10, p. 112,
  It is your turn now […] to support your philosophical subtilties against the dictates of plain reason and experience.
- 1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, chapter 6, in The Woodlanders […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, OCLC 17926498, page 104:
  She could not explain the subtleties of her feeling as clearly as he could state his opinion, even though she had skill in speech, and her father had none.
- 1952, John Steinbeck, East of Eden, London: Heinemann, Part 4, Chapter 36, p. 366,
  His body was as insensitive to pain as was his mind to subtleties.
(countable, historical) An ornate medieval illusion dish or table decoration, especially when made from one thing but crafted to look like another.
At the king's coronation feast, several subtleties were served between main courses.
- 1548, Edward Hall, The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre [and] Yorke, London: Richard Grafton, “The triumphaunt reigne of Kyng Henry the .VIII.,”
  the seruice […] was sumpteous, with many subtleties, straunge deuises, with seuerall poses, and many deintie dishes.
(uncountable, countable, archaic) The quality of being clever in surreptitious or deceitful behaviour; an act or argument that shows this quality.
Synonyms: artifice, craftiness, cunning, deceitfulness, slyness, trickery
- 1575, George Gascoigne, The Noble Arte of Venerie of Hunting, London: Christopher Barker, “Termes generall of the huntesman, in hunting of any chase,” p. 243,
  When eyther Hare or Deare, or any other chase vseth subtleties to deceyue the houndes, we saye they crosse or double.
- c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “The Second Booke”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, OCLC 801077108; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, OCLC 318419127, page 181:
  [She] resolued now with plainnesse to winne trust, which trust she might after deceyue with a greater subtletie.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, 2 Corinthians 11:3:
  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
- 1715–1720, Homer; [Alexander] Pope, transl., “(please specify the book of the Iliad or chapter quoted from)”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], OCLC 670734254, page 136:
  […] the Spy was deceiv’d rather by the Art and Subtlety of Ulysses, than by his Falshood.
- 1817 December, [Jane Austen], chapter X, in Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=III or IV), London: John Murray, […], 1818, OCLC 318384910, page 220:
  Mr. Elliot’s subtleties, in endeavouring to prevent [the marriage]
(countable, obsolete) A trick that creates a false appearance.
Synonyms: deception, illusion
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene i]:
  You doe yet taste
  Some subtleties o’ th’ Isle, that will not let you
  Beleeue things certaine:
(uncountable, obsolete) The property of having a low density or thin consistency.
- 1630, Thomas Johnson (translator/editor), A Treatise of the Plague […] Collected out of the workes of […] Ambrose Parey, London, Chapter 11, p. 33,
  Therefore at Paris where naturally, and also through the aboundance of filth that is about the Citie, the Aire is darke and grosse, the pestilent Infection is lesse fierce and contagious then it is in Prouince, for the subtletie of the Aire stimulates or helps forward the Plague.
- 1692, Robert Boyle, General Heads for the Natural History of a Country Great or Small Drawn Out for the Use of Travellers and Navigators, London: John Tailor and S. Hedford, p. 3,
  About the Air is to be considered, its Temperature as to Heat, Dryness and Moisture, and the Measures of them, its Weight, Clearness, Refractive Power, its Subtilty or Grosness […]
(uncountable, obsolete) The property of being able to penetrate materials easily.
Synonyms: penetrancy, piercingness
- 1760, John Wesley, The Desideratum; or, Electricity Made Plain and Useful, London, pp. 37-38,
  Hence we see the amazing Subtlety of this Fire, which pervades Glass as readily as if nothing were in the Way.

Translations

quality or act of being subtle

Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Asturian: sutileza f
Catalan: subtilesa f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 微妙 (zh)
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: hienovaraisuus (fi)
French: subtilité (fr)
Galician: sutileza f
German: Geschicklichkeit (de) f, Feinheit (de) f, Feinsinn m, Feinsinnigkeit f, Raffinesse (de) f, Raffiniertheit f, Scharfsinn (de) m, Scharfsinnigkeit f, Subtilität (de) f, Zartheit (de) f
Greek: λεπτότητα (el) f (leptótita)
Italian: sottigliezza (it) f
Japanese: 微妙 (ja) (びみょう, bimyō)
Latin: argūtiae f pl, subtīlitās f
Polish: subtelność (pl) f, delikatność (pl) f
Portuguese: sutileza (pt) f (Brazil), subtileza (pt) (Portugal)
Russian: то́нкость (ru) f (tónkostʹ)
Spanish: delicadeza (es) f, sutileza (es) f
Swedish: subtilitet (sv)
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: incelik (tr), kurnazlık (tr), zekilik (tr), ustalık (tr), anlaşılmazlık (tr)

an instance of being subtle

Asturian: sutileza f
Galician: sutileza f
Polish: subtelność (pl) f
Portuguese: sutileza (pt) f (Brazil), subtileza (pt) (Portugal)
Spanish: sutileza (es) f
Swedish: subtilitet (sv) c, finess (sv)

illusion food

French: entremets (fr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked