insidious, pernicious, subtle
(adjective) working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way; “glaucoma is an insidious disease”; “a subtle poison”
elusive, subtle
(adjective) difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze; “his whole attitude had undergone a subtle change”; “a subtle difference”; “that elusive thing the soul”
subtle
(adjective) able to make fine distinctions; “a subtle mind”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
subtle (comparative subtler or more subtle, superlative subtlest or most subtle)
Hard to grasp; not obvious or easily understood; barely noticeable.
Antonym: simple
(of a thing) Cleverly contrived.
(of a person or animal) Cunning, skillful.
Synonyms: crafty, cunning, skillful
Insidious.
Synonyms: deceptive, malicious
Tenuous; rarefied; of low density or thin consistency.
(obsolete) Refined; exquisite.
• bluest, bluets, bustle, butles, sublet
Source: Wiktionary
Sub"tle, a. [Compar. Subtler; superl. Subtlest.] Etym: [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. Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; -- applied to persons; as, a subtle foe. "A subtle traitor." Shak.
2. Cunningly devised; crafty; treacherous; as, a subtle stratagem.
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. Smooth and deceptive. [Obs.] Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground [bowling 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
21 June 2024
(noun) a charge required as compensation for the delay of a ship or freight car or other cargo beyond its scheduled time of departure
The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.