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Webster 1913 Edition


Subtly

Sub′tly

,
adv.
In a subtle manner; slyly; artfully; cunningly.
Thou seest how
subtly
to detain thee I devise.
Milton.
2.
Nicely; delicately.
In the nice bee what sense so
subtly
true.
Pope.
Subtly
communicating itself to my sensibilities, but evading the analysis of my mind.
Hawthorne.
3.
Deceitfully; delusively.
[Obs.]
Shak.

Webster 1828 Edition


Subtly

SUB'TLY

,
adv.
Slyly; artfully; cunningly.
Thou seest how subtly to detain thee I devise.
1.
Nicely; delicately.
In the nice bee, what sense so subtly true.

Definition 2024


subtly

subtly

English

Alternative forms

Adverb

subtly (comparative more subtly, superlative most subtly)

  1. With subtleness, in a subtle manner. With cleverness rather than brute force.
    • 2013 August 10, A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
      As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.

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