different between subtle vs casuistic

English

Alternative forms

• subtil, subtile, suttle (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English sotil, soubtil, subtil, borrowed from Old French soutil, subtil, from Latin subt?lis (“fine, thin, slender, delicate”); probably, originally, “woven fine”, and from sub (“under”) + tela (“a web”), from texere (“to weave”). Displaced native Old English sm?ag.

Pronunciation

• enPR: s?t'(?)l, IPA^(key): /?s?t(?)l/, [?s????]
• Rhymes: -?t?l

Adjective

subtle (comparative subtler or more subtle, superlative subtlest or most subtle)

1. Hard to grasp; not obvious or easily understood; barely noticeable.

   Antonym: simple

   • 1712, Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem. Demonstrating the Existence and Providence of a God. In Seven Books, book I, London: Printed for S. Buckley, at the Dolphin in Little-Britain; and J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's Head over-against Catherine-Street in the Strand, OCLC 731619916; 5th edition, Dublin: Printed by S. Powell, for G. Risk, G. Ewing, and W. Smith, in Dame's-street, 1727, OCLC 728300884, page 7:

     The mighty Magnet from the Center darts / This ?trong, tho' ?ubtile Force, thro' all the Parts: / Its active Rays ejaculated thence, / Irradiate all the wide Circumference.

2. (of a thing) Cleverly contrived.
3. (of a person or animal) Cunning, skillful.

   Synonyms: crafty, cunning, skillful

4. Insidious.

   Synonyms: deceptive, malicious

   • 1623, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third, Act IV, scene 4:

     Thy age confirmed, proud, subtle, bloody, treacherous.

5. Tenuous; rarefied; of low density or thin consistency.
6. (obsolete) Refined; exquisite.

Derived terms

Translations

References

• subtle in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• subtle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “subtle”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN

Anagrams

• bluest, bluets, bustle, butles, sublet

English

Etymology

casuist +? -ic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kæzju??st?k/, /?kæ?u??st?k/

Adjective

casuistic (comparative more casuistic, superlative most casuistic)

1. Relating to casuistry (attempts to solve moral dilemmas by applying general rules).
2. Overly subtle, hair-splitting.
   • 1855, Sir Richard Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah

     These subjects have exercised not a little the casuistic talents of the Arab doctors: a folio volume might be filled with differences of opinion on the subject, "Is a blind man sound?"

Translations