Meanings
comparative more subtilly · superlative most subtilly
- obsoleteObsolete form of subtly.
He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 105:252 more examples
[…] one jewel, (as writers make mention,) which was a certain vessel finely and subtilly made of the precious stone onychinus, so radiantly wrought, that in it appeared the lively corn growing, and men's images walking, &c.
1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, chapter 24, in Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLCFor though Contraria iuxta ſe poſita magis illuceſcunt [opposites placed next to each other shine more brightly] (by an olde Rule) yet it hath beene ſubtilly, and indeede truely noted that our Sight, is not vvell contented, vvith thoſe ſudden departments, from one extreame to another; Therefore let them haue, rather a Duskiſh Tincture, then an abſolute blacke.
1624, Henry Wotton, The Elements of Architecture, […], London: […] Iohn Bill, →OCLC, II. part, page 104
Origin
Cite this entry
subtilly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subtilly
“subtilly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subtilly. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “subtilly,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subtilly.
Source: subtilly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.