What is another word for subtle?

Synonyms for subtle
ˈsʌt lsub·tle

This thesaurus page includes all potential synonyms, words with the same meaning and similar terms for the word subtle.

Wiktionary2.5 / 2 votes

  1. subtleadjective

    Hard to grasp; not obvious or easily understood; barely noticeable.

    The difference is subtle, but you can hear it if you listen carefully.

    Antonyms:
    simple

  2. subtleadjective

    Cunning, skillful.

    Synonyms:
    cunning, crafty, skillful

  3. subtleadjective

    insidious

    Synonyms:
    insidious

English Synonyms and Antonyms2.0 / 3 votes

  1. subtle

    Acute, from the Latin, suggests the sharpness of the needle's point; keen, from the Saxon, the sharpness of the cutting edge. Astute, from the Latin, with the original sense of cunning has come to have a meaning that combines the sense of acute or keen with that of sagacious. The astute mind adds to acuteness and keenness an element of cunning or finesse. The astute debater leads his opponents into a snare by getting them to make admissions, or urge arguments, of which he sees a result that they do not perceive. The acute, keen intellect may take no special advantage of these qualities; the astute mind has always a point to make for itself, and seldom fails to make it. A knowing look, air, etc., in general indicates practical knowledge with a touch of shrewdness, and perhaps of cunning; in regard to some special matter, it indicates the possession of reserved knowledge which the person could impart if he chose. Knowing has often a slightly invidious sense. We speak of a knowing rascal, meaning cunning or shrewd within a narrow range, but of a knowing horse or dog, in the sense of sagacious, implying that he knows more than could be expected of such an animal. A knowing child has more knowledge than would be looked for at his years, perhaps more than is quite desirable, while to speak of a child as intelligent is altogether complimentary.

    Synonyms:
    acute, astute, clear-sighted, crafty, cunning, discerning, discriminating, keen, knowing, penetrating, penetrative, perspicacious, sagacious, sharp, shrewd, subtile

    Antonyms:
    blind, dull, idiotic, imbecile, shallow, short-sighted, stolid, stupid, undiscerning, unintelligent

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms3.3 / 3 votes

  1. subtle

    Synonyms:
    sly, artful, cunning, insinuating, wily, astute, nice, discriminating, crafty, fine, shrewd, sophistical, jesuitical

    Antonyms:
    open, frank, honest, artless, undiscriminating, rough, blunt, undiscerning, unsophisticated, simple

Princeton's WordNet1.0 / 1 vote

  1. elusive, subtleadjective

    difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze

    "his whole attitude had undergone a subtle change"; "a subtle difference"; "that elusive thing the soul"

    Synonyms:
    pernicious, baffling, problematic, knotty, tough, insidious, elusive, problematical

    Antonyms:
    tangible, unperceptive, harmless, palpable, unperceiving

  2. subtleadjective

    able to make fine distinctions

    "a subtle mind"

    Synonyms:
    insidious, elusive, pernicious

    Antonyms:
    tangible, harmless, palpable, unperceptive, unperceiving

  3. insidious, pernicious, subtleadjective

    working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way

    "glaucoma is an insidious disease"; "a subtle poison"

    Synonyms:
    pestilent, elusive, baneful, pernicious, insidious, deadly

    Antonyms:
    unperceiving, tangible, unperceptive, harmless, palpable

Dictionary of English Synonymes0.0 / 0 votes

  1. subtleadjective

    Synonyms:
    crafty, cunning, artful, sly, wily, arch, astute, designing, intriguing, insinuating, crooked, tricky, diplomatic, machiavelian

  2. subtleadjective

    Synonyms:
    acute, keen, shrewd, sagacious, deep, profound

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated Words0.0 / 0 votes

  1. subtleadjective

    Synonyms:
    artful, cunning, sly, designing, crafty, refined, discriminating

PPDB, the paraphrase database1.0 / 1 vote

  1. List of paraphrases for "subtle":

    delicate, sophisticated, discreet, nuanced, cunning, perceptive

Suggested Resources

  1. subtle

    Song lyrics by subtle -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by subtle on the Lyrics.com website.

How to pronounce subtle?

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Words popularity by usage frequency

rankingword
#1114fine
#1157nice
#3091sharp
#4704knowing
#4924tough
#5690acute
#6642sophisticated
#9200deadly
#9217keen
#9840subtle
#11658delicate
#13204discreet
#14988problematic
#20139elusive
#22283penetrating
#23246sly
#24948discerning
#25806crafty
#26623cunning
#29124discriminating
#34018astute
#34606skillful
#35834artful
#39559insidious
#43378perceptive
#44318shrewd
#48711pernicious
#48777wily
#51400nuanced
#53611baffling
#68031knotty
#106936insinuating
#107333problematical
#127341sagacious
#132519baneful
#135647penetrative
#206784subtile
#223678sophistical
#245384pestilent
#268563perspicacious

How to use subtle in a sentence?

  1. Erinn Wong:

    In fact, minstrel blackface has emerged into even more subtle forms of racism that are now glorified all over the Internet.

  2. Kedar Joshi:

    God created the world to be praised on the subtle nature of his existence.

  3. Hadas Ketter-Katz:

    We found out that each eye has a different role. We have the tracking eye that will continue tracking the target and the converging eye that will converge to the tracking eye and eventually she will choose that target. We found out that each eye has a different subtle pattern of eye movements according to her role. So even before the chameleon chose one of the targets, I could tell by the subtle patterns of the eye which one she is going to go for.

  4. Jerry Seinfeld:

    It's just hard to be funny, everybody kind of thinks they're funny or wants to be funny, but even the people that are great at being funny aren't funny a lot of the time because it's just a tricky, subtle thing that evokes that response of laughter [from an audience].

  5. Thea Suh:

    Racism against people of Asian descent has been subtle in Germany, but it has always been here, with this recent coronavirus outbreak, it has just gotten worse... we are basically stuck between getting ridiculed and being the recipient of disgust.


Translations for subtle

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"subtle." Synonyms.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.synonyms.com/synonym/subtle>.

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