SUBTLER

Adjective

subtler

comparative form of subtle

Anagrams

• Butlers, Struble, bluster, brustle, bustler, butlers, turbels

Source: Wiktionary

SUBTLE

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