subtilize

present singular third person subtilizes · participle present subtilizing · participle past subtilized · past subtilized · alternative subtilise

1. transitiveTo make subtle; to make thin or fine; to make less gross or coarse.
2. transitiveTo refine; to spin into niceties.

   to subtilize arguments

   1 more example

   Nor as yet have we subtilized ourselves into savages.

   1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC

3. intransitiveTo use subtle arguments or distinctions.