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Thesaurus: subtle

Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; -- applied to persons; as, a subtle foe.

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  1. superl. Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; -- applied to persons; as, a subtle foe.
  2. superl. Cunningly devised; crafty; treacherous; as, a subtle stratagem.
  3. superl. Characterized by refinement and niceness in drawing distinctions; nicely discriminating; -- said of persons; as, a subtle logician; refined; tenuous; sinuous; insinuating; hence, penetrative or pervasive; -- said of the mind; its faculties, or its operations; as, a subtle intellect; a subtle imagination; a subtle process of thought; also, difficult of apprehension; elusive.
  4. superl. Smooth and deceptive.
  5. adj. difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
  6. adj. able to make fine distinctions
  7. adj. working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way
  8. j:100 s. able to make fine distinctions