different between knowing vs subtle

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?no???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n????/
• Rhymes: -????

Adjective

knowing (comparative more knowing, superlative most knowing)

1. Possessing knowledge or understanding; intelligent.

   • The knowing and intelligent part of the world.

2. Shrewd or showing clever awareness.

3. Suggestive of private knowledge.
4. Deliberate

Translations

Verb

knowing

1. present participle of know

Derived terms

• knowingly

Noun

knowing (plural knowings)

1. The act or condition of having knowledge.
   • 2009, Gilbert Ryle, The Concept of Mind (60th Anniversary Edition, 1949, page 194)

     Sensations then, are not perceivings, observings or findings; they are not detectings, scannings or inspectings; they are not apprehendings, cognisings, intuitings or knowings.

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