subtlety

CEFRC1

/ˈsʌt(ə)lti/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A small detail or difference that is not obvious.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    The quality of being subtle.

Examples

  • Subtlety has never been your strong suit.

  • Subtlety never was your strong suit.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The quality of being scarcely noticeable or difficult to discern. (of things)

  2. The quality of being done in a clever way that is not obvious or not direct; the quality of being carefully thought out. (of things)

  3. The quality of being able to achieve one's aims through clever, delicate or indirect methods. (of people)

More examples

In context

  • With all his usual subtlety, he quietly fixed the problem before anyone else noticed it.

  • the subtlety of a writer’s analysis / of a singer’s phrasing

  • the subtlety of the Mona Lisa’s smile

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The movie's humor relied on blank that only careful viewers would notice.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English sotilte, from Old French sutilté, inherited from Latin subtīlitās, from subtīlis (“subtle”). Equivalent to subtle + -ty. Doublet of subtility.