Subtle vs Insensitive - What's the difference?
subtle | insensitive |
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.
Not expressing normal physical feeling
* 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula
Not expressing normal emotional feelings; cold; tactless; undiplomatic
* 1895, Grant Allen, The British Barbarians
* 1994, Jann Arden, "Insensitive" (song)
As adjectives the difference between subtle and insensitive
is that subtle is hard to grasp; not obvious or easily understood; barely noticeable while insensitive is not expressing normal physical feeling.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.
Synonyms
* crafty, cunning, skillful * (insidious) insidiousAntonyms
* (hard to grasp) simpleDerived terms
* subtle body * subtleness * subtlety * subtlyReferences
* * *Anagrams
* * * *insensitive
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- It is something like the way dame Nature gathers round a foreign body an envelope of some insensitive tissue which can protect from evil that which it would otherwise harm by contact.
- Somehow, when Bertram Ingledew let it once be felt he did not wish to be questioned on any particular point, even women managed to restrain their curiosity: and he would have been either a very bold or a very insensitive man who would have ventured to continue questioning him any further.
- Oh I really should have known by the time you drove me home, / By the vagueness in your eyes, your casual good-byes, / By the chill in your embrace and the expression on your face, / That told me you might have some advice to give / On how to be insensitive .