SUBTLE

subtle. Subtle, a. cunning, artful, thin, pure, refined

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Sub″tle (?), a. [Compar. Subtler (?); superl. Subtlest (?).] [[OE. sotil, subtil, OF. soutil, later subtil, F. subtil, L. subtilis; probably, originally, woven fine, and fr. sub under + tela a web, fr. texere to weave. See Text, and cf. Subtile.]] 1. 1. Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; — applied to persons; as, a subtle foe. “A subtle traitor.” Shak.
2. 2. Cunningly devised; crafty; treacherous; as, a subtle stratagem.
3. 3. 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.
Things remote from use, obscure and subtle. Milton. 4. 4. Smooth and deceptive.
Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground . Shak. Syn. — Artful; crafty; cunning; shrewd; sly; wily. Subtle is the most comprehensive of these epithets and implies the finest intellectual quality. See Shrewd, and Cunning.