'Subtlety' definitions:
Definition of 'subtlety'
(from WordNet)
noun
A subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude; "without understanding the finer nuances you can't enjoy the humor"; "don't argue about shades of meaning" [syn: nuance, nicety, shade, subtlety, refinement]
noun
The quality of being difficult to detect or analyze; "you had to admire the subtlety of the distinctions he drew" [syn: subtlety, niceness]
Definition of 'Subtlety'
From: GCIDE
- Subtlety \Sub"tle*ty\, n.; pl. Subtleties. [OE. sotelte, sutilte, OF. sotillete, L. subtilitas. See Subtle, and cf. Subtility.]
- 1. The quality or state of being subtle, or sly; cunning; craftiness; artfulness. [1913 Webster]
- The fox which lives by subtlety. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Nice discernment with delicacy of mental action; nicety of discrimination. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Something that is sly, crafty, or delusive. [1913 Webster]
- Unlearned in the world's false subtleties. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'subtlety'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- absoluteness,
- accuracy,
- acquired taste,
- acuteness,
- airiness,
- airy nothing,
- animal cunning,
- apparent soundness,
- appreciation,
- appreciation of differences,
- appreciation of excellence,
- appreciativeness,
- art,
- artfulness,
- artifice,
- artistic judgment,
- astuteness,
- attention to detail,
- attention to fact,
- bodilessness,
- cageyness,
- callidity,
- canniness,
- care for truth,
- casuistry,
- choiceness,
- circularity,
- circumstantiality,
- civilized taste,
- civilizedness,
- cleverness,
- complexity,
- complexness,
- complication,
- connoisseurship,
- conscientiousness,
- convolution,
- correctness,
- crabbedness,
- craft,
- craftiness,
- critical niceness,
- criticality,
- criticalness,
- cultivated taste,
- cultivation,
- culture,
- cunning,
- cunningness,
- daintiness,
- deceptiveness,
- delicacy,
- delicate distinction,
- detail,
- deviousness,
- differentia,
- differential,
- discriminating taste,
- discriminatingness,
- discrimination,
- discriminativeness,
- disingenuousness,
- distinction,
- distortion,
- elegance,
- entanglement,
- equivocalness,
- equivocation,
- ethereality,
- evasive reasoning,
- exactingness,
- exactitude,
- exactness,
- excellence,
- exquisiteness,
- faithfulness,
- fallaciousness,
- fallacy,
- fastidiousness,
- faultlessness,
- feel,
- feeling,
- fidelity,
- fine Italian hand,
- fine palate,
- fine point,
- fineness,
- finesse,
- finicality,
- finicalness,
- finickiness,
- finickingness,
- flawlessness,
- flimsiness,
- foxiness,
- fussiness,
- gamesmanship,
- good taste,
- grace,
- gracefulness,
- gracility,
- graciosity,
- graciousness,
- guile,
- guilefulness,
- hairline,
- immateriality,
- impalpability,
- imponderability,
- incorporeality,
- ingeniousness,
- insidiousness,
- insincerity,
- insolidity,
- insubstantiality,
- intangibility,
- intricacy,
- intricateness,
- inventiveness,
- involution,
- involvement,
- Italian hand,
- jesuitism,
- jesuitry,
- judiciousness,
- literalism,
- literality,
- literalness,
- low cunning,
- making distinctions,
- margin,
- mathematical precision,
- meticulousness,
- minuteness,
- misapplication,
- mistiness,
- mystification,
- narrow margin,
- nice distinction,
- niceness,
- niceness of distinction,
- nicety,
- nuance,
- obfuscation,
- obscurantism,
- one-upmanship,
- oversubtlety,
- palate,
- particle of difference,
- particularity,
- particularness,
- pawkiness,
- perfection,
- perplexity,
- perversion,
- philosophism,
- plausibility,
- plausibleness,
- point of difference,
- polish,
- preciseness,
- precisianism,
- precision,
- punctiliousness,
- punctuality,
- quality,
- ramification,
- rareness,
- rarity,
- rationalization,
- readiness,
- refined discrimination,
- refined palate,
- refinement,
- resourcefulness,
- right,
- rightness,
- rigidity,
- rigidness,
- rigor,
- rigorousness,
- satanic cunning,
- scrupulosity,
- scrupulousness,
- selectiveness,
- sense,
- sensibility,
- sensitivity,
- severity,
- shade of difference,
- sharpness,
- shiftiness,
- shrewdness,
- slickness,
- slightness,
- slipperiness,
- slyness,
- sneakiness,
- sophism,
- sophistical reasoning,
- sophistication,
- sophistry,
- special pleading,
- speciosity,
- specious reasoning,
- speciousness,
- stealth,
- stealthiness,
- strictness,
- subtility,
- subtilty,
- subtle distinction,
- subtleness,
- suppleness,
- tact,
- tactfulness,
- tanglement,
- taste,
- tastefulness,
- technicality,
- tenuity,
- tenuousness,
- textualism,
- the letter,
- thinness,
- treachery,
- trickiness,
- unconcreteness,
- unreality,
- unsolidity,
- unsubstantiality,
- unsubstantialness,
- vagueness,
- vicious circle,
- vicious reasoning,
- wariness,
- wide margin,
- wiles,
- wiliness,
- wit