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Elegance vs Subtle - What's the difference?

elegance | subtle |

As a noun elegance

is elegance.

As an adjective subtle is

hard to grasp; not obvious or easily understood; barely noticeable.

elegance

Noun

(en-noun)
  • Grace, refinement, and beauty in movement, appearance, or manners
  • The bride was elegance personified.
  • Restraint and grace of style
  • The simple dress had a quiet elegance .
  • The beauty of an idea characterized by minimalism and intuitiveness while preserving exactness and precision
  • The proof of the theorem had a pleasing elegance .
  • (countable) A refinement or luxury
  • * {{quote-book, year=1852, author=Various, title=Young Americans Abroad, chapter=, edition= citation
  • , passage=As to the comforts and elegances of life, we have enough of them for our good. }}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1881, author=Isaac D'Israeli, title=Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1, chapter=, edition= citation
  • , passage=At Rome, when Sallust was the fashionable writer, short sentences, uncommon words, and an obscure brevity, were affected as so many elegances . }}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1909, author=E. Phillips Oppenheim, title=The Governors, chapter=10, edition= citation
  • , passage=Phineas Duge

    subtle

    English

    Alternative forms

    * subtil (obsolete) * subtile (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Hard to grasp; not obvious or easily understood; barely noticeable.
  • The difference is subtle , but you can hear it if you listen carefully.
  • (of a thing) Cleverly contrived.
  • (of a person or animal) Cunning, skillful.
  • insidious
  • * 1623 , , act iv, scene 4,
  • Thy age confirmed, proud, subtle , bloody, treacherous.
  • Tenuous; rarefied; of low density or thin consistency.
  • Synonyms

    * crafty, cunning, skillful * (insidious) insidious

    Antonyms

    * (hard to grasp) simple

    Derived terms

    * subtle body * subtleness * subtlety * subtly

    References

    * * *

    Anagrams

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