subtile

From Latin subtilis (“fine, thin, slender, delicate”), perhaps, from sub (“under”) + tela (“a web, fabric”). See tela, toil.

subtile (comparative subtiler, superlative subtilest)

1. (obsolete) subtle
   • 1819, Francis Bacon, The Works of Francis Bacon, volume 2, page 2:

     And sometimes this perception, in some kind of bodies, is far more subtile than the sense; so that the sense is but a dull thing in comparison of it: we see a weather-glass will find the least difference of the weather, in heat, or cold, when men find it not.

   • 1889, Henry James, The Solution.

     I burst into mirth at this—I liked him even better when he was subtile than when he was simple.

• subtile body

• subtile in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• subtile in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

• IPA^(key): /syp.til/

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subtile

1. feminine singular of subtil

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subtile

1. inflection of subtil:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

subtīle

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of subtīlis

• subtile in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

subtile

1. Alternative form of sotil

subtile

1. Alternative form of sotil

subtile

1. definite singular/plural of subtil

subtile

1. definite singular/plural of subtil

subtile

1. absolute definite natural masculine singular of subtil.