Imaginary vs Subtle - What's the difference?
imaginary | subtle | Related terms |
existing only in the imagination
* Addison
(mathematics) of a number, having no real part; that part of a complex number which is a multiple of the square root of -1.
Imagination; fancy.
* 2002 , , The Great Nation , Penguin 2003, p. 324:
(mathematics) An imaginary quantity.
Hard to grasp; not obvious or easily understood; barely noticeable.
(of a thing) Cleverly contrived.
(of a person or animal) Cunning, skillful.
insidious
* 1623 , , act iv, scene 4,
Tenuous; rarefied; of low density or thin consistency.
Imaginary is a related term of subtle.
As adjectives the difference between imaginary and subtle
is that imaginary is existing only in the imagination while subtle is hard to grasp; not obvious or easily understood; barely noticeable.As a noun imaginary
is imagination; fancy.imaginary
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- Wilt thou add to all the griefs I suffer / Imaginary ills and fancied tortures?
Derived terms
* imaginarily * imaginarinessNoun
(imaginaries)- By then too Mozart's opera, from Da Ponte's libretto, had made Figaro a stock character in the European imaginary and set the whole Continent whistling Mozartian airs and chuckling at Figaresque humour.
External links
* (Imaginary number)subtle
English
Alternative forms
* subtil (obsolete) * subtile (obsolete)Adjective
(er)- The difference is subtle , but you can hear it if you listen carefully.
- Thy age confirmed, proud, subtle , bloody, treacherous.