subtlety

Plural: subtleties

Noun

• The quality of being delicate, nuanced, or not immediately obvious.
• a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude
• the quality of being difficult to detect or analyze
  • "you had to admire the subtlety of the distinctions he drew"
• The quality of being subtle.
• The quality of being scarcely noticeable or difficult to discern. (of things)
• The quality of being subtle.
• The quality of being done in a clever way that is not obvious or not direct; the quality of being carefully thought out. (of things)
• The quality of being subtle.
• The quality of being able to achieve one's aims through clever, delicate or indirect methods. (of people)
• The quality of being subtle.
• The quality of being able to notice or understand things that are not obvious. (of people)
• An instance of being subtle, a subtle thing, especially a subtle argument or distinction.
• An ornate medieval illusion dish or table decoration, especially when made from one thing but crafted to look like another.
• The quality of being clever in surreptitious or deceitful behaviour; an act or argument that shows this quality.
• A trick that creates a false appearance.
• The property of having a low density or thin consistency.
• The property of being able to penetrate materials easily.

Examples

• At the king's coronation feast, several subtleties were served between main courses.
• The subtleties of this overture are often overlooked.
• the subtlety of a writer’s analysis / of a singer’s phrasing
• the subtlety of the Mona Lisa’s smile
• The true SUBTLETY of a Scrabble board often reveals itself only after a few turns.
• With all his usual subtlety, he quietly fixed the problem before anyone else noticed it.

Synonyms

niceness, nicety, nuance, refinement, shade, acumen, artifice, craftiness, cunning, deceitfulness, deception, discretion, finesse, illusion, penetrancy, perceptiveness, perspicacity, piercingness, savoir-faire, slyness, trickery