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Guile vs. Subtlety — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Guile and Subtlety

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Definitions

Guile

Treacherous cunning; skillful deceit.

Subtlety

The quality or state of being subtle.

Guile

A trick or stratagem.

Subtlety

Something subtle, especially a nicety of thought or a fine distinction.

Guile

To beguile; deceive.
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Subtlety

(uncountable) The quality of being subtle.

Guile

(uncountable) Astuteness often marked by a certain sense of cunning or artful deception.

Subtlety

(of things) The quality of being scarcely noticeable or difficult to discern.
The subtlety of the Mona Lisa’s smile

Guile

Deceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty.

Subtlety

(of things) The quality of being done in a clever way that is not obvious or not direct; the quality of being carefully thought out.
The subtlety of a writer’s analysis / of a singer’s phrasing
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Guile

Obsolete form of gold

Subtlety

(of people) The quality of being able to achieve one's aims through clever, delicate or indirect methods.
With all his usual subtlety, he quietly fixed the problem before anyone else noticed it.

Guile

Alternative form of gyle

Subtlety

(of people) The quality of being able to notice or understand things that are not obvious.

Guile

To deceive, beguile, bewile.

Subtlety

(countable) An instance of being subtle, a subtle thing, especially a subtle argument or distinction.
The subtleties of this overture are often overlooked.

Guile

Craft; deceitful cunning; artifice; duplicity; wile; deceit; treachery.
Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.
To wage by force or guile eternal war.

Subtlety

An ornate medieval illusion dish or table decoration, especially when made from one thing but crafted to look like another.
At the king's coronation feast, several subtleties were served between main courses.

Guile

To disguise or conceal; to deceive or delude.

Subtlety

The quality of being clever in surreptitious or deceitful behaviour; an act or argument that shows this quality.

Guile

Shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception

Subtlety

A trick that creates a false appearance.

Guile

The quality of being crafty

Subtlety

The property of having a low density or thin consistency.

Guile

The use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them)

Subtlety

The property of being able to penetrate materials easily.

Subtlety

The quality or state of being subtle, or sly; cunning; craftiness; artfulness.
The fox which lives by subtlety.

Subtlety

Nice discernment with delicacy of mental action; nicety of discrimination.

Subtlety

Something that is sly, crafty, or delusive.
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.

Subtlety

A subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude;
Without understanding the finer nuances you can't enjoy the humor
Don't argue about shades of meaning

Subtlety

The quality of being difficult to detect or analyze;
You had to admire the subtlety of the distinctions he drew

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