subtly
/ˈsʌt.l̩.li/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.30 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adv
With subtleness, in a subtle manner; with cleverness rather than brute force.
Example Sentences
- "Nexte cometh Arrius by ſoo muche the more wretched and madde in opynyon, by howe muche he dothe more ſubtely and craftily geue unto Chriſt the body of a man, and taketh from hym the ſowle of a man, […]"
- "For though Contraria iuxta ſe poſita magis illuceſcunt [opposites placed next to each other shine more brightly] (by an olde Rule) yet it hath beene ſubtilly, and indeede truely noted that our Sight, is not vvell contented, vvith thoſe ſudden departments, from one extreame to another; Therefore let them haue, rather a Duskiſh Tincture, then an abſolute blacke."
- "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."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: sotilly
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsʌt.l̩.li/
- British English: /ˈsʌt.li/
Inflected Forms
more subtly (comparative)
most subtly (superlative)
subtlely (alternative, obsolete)
subtilly (alternative, obsolete)