Word.ws English Dictionary

subtlely

subtlely is the alternative spelling of subtly.

Meaning of subtly

Adverb

subtly (comparative more subtly, superlative most subtly)

  1. With subtleness, in a subtle manner; with cleverness rather than brute force.
    • Nexte cometh Arrius by ſoo muche the more wretched and madde in opynyon, by howe muche he dothe more ſubtely and craftily geue unto Chriſt the body of a man, and taketh from hym the ſowle of a man, […]1533, Erasmus of Roterdame, “The Thyrde Instruction”, in William Marshall, transl., A Playne and Godly Exposytion or Declaration of the Commune Crede (which in the Latin Tonge is Called Symbolum...

Forms of subtlely

comparativemore subtlely
superlativemost subtlely

Origin of subtlely

From subtle + -ly.

Questions about subtlely

What is subtlely the alternative spelling of?
Subtlely is the alternative spelling of subtly.

Words near subtlely in the dictionary

  1. subtitular
  2. subtle
  3. subtle bodies
  4. subtle body
  5. subtled
  6. subtlely
  7. subtleness
  8. subtlenesses
  9. subtler
  10. subtles
  11. subtlest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: subtlely (page history and authors); subtly (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “subtlely.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/subtlely. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.