subtle

In a sentence

Six example sentences with subtle, each labelled with its topic.

• The difference between the two lenses is subtle, visible only when you enlarge a corner of the frame considerably.

  Photography

• Early symptoms were so subtle that the patient dismissed them for months before a routine blood test raised concern.

  Medicine

• A subtle shift in the drummer's timing pushes the whole chorus forward, though most listeners never notice why.

  Music

• The saffron adds a subtle note that most diners cannot name but would miss if it were gone.

  Cooking

• The bias was subtle, showing only when the same essay was graded under two different names.

  Psychology

• A subtle screen, barely a shoulder, frees the shooter for the half second that the defense never sees.

  Basketball

Found in these word lists

Each source is a published word list that contains subtle. No exam board publishes an official GRE, GMAT or SAT list; GMAT words come from GRE lists and the Academic Word List.

More Academic words

• optimum
• regime
• enforce
• institutional
• selective
• optimal
• enhanced
• motivated
• predominantly
• federal
• infer
• retained