as in cunning
skill in achieving one's ends through indirect, subtle, or underhanded means
we appreciated the subtlety with which our host indicated that it was time to leave: he volunteered to pack us a little lunch for the road
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Recent Examples of subtlety
Boeing may produce more specialized executives who grasp the subtleties of each industry by relieving management of the need for supervising several business lines.
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Jim Osman, Forbes, 26 Oct. 2024
Sophia, played with precocious subtlety by newcomer Emily Matthews as alert and inquisitive, but struggling with her own complicated grief, demands constant attention from Grandmother.
—Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 19 Oct. 2024
That a chatbot could understand the subtleties of humor and then convey them clearly in its own words was revelatory in Hinton’s view.
—Paolo Confino, Fortune, 10 Oct. 2024
However, these types of comparative analyses failed because most of my students were not developed enough as writers to analyze the subtleties of meaning or evaluate style.
—Victoria Livingstone, TIME, 30 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for subtlety 
Jim Osman, Forbes, 26 Oct. 2024
Sophia, played with precocious subtlety by newcomer Emily Matthews as alert and inquisitive, but struggling with her own complicated grief, demands constant attention from Grandmother.
—Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 19 Oct. 2024
That a chatbot could understand the subtleties of humor and then convey them clearly in its own words was revelatory in Hinton’s view.
—Paolo Confino, Fortune, 10 Oct. 2024
However, these types of comparative analyses failed because most of my students were not developed enough as writers to analyze the subtleties of meaning or evaluate style.
—Victoria Livingstone, TIME, 30 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for subtlety
Thesaurus Entries Near subtlety
Cite this Entry
“Subtlety.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subtlety. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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