What's the difference between quirky and subtle?

Quirky


Definition:

  • (a.) Full of quirks; tricky; as, a quirky lawyer.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) She wants to keep it private, but admits to collecting younger artists, often "sillier, obscure, quirky things".
  • (2) The knowledgeable staff will happily explain the merits of elusive Belgian beers with quirky names such as Jambe de Bois and Mad Helen.
  • (3) His Star Trek reboots are dispiriting: the quirky and beloved sci-fi franchise pureed into stimulating but unremarkable blockbuster entertainment, distinguished mainly by caricatures of iconic characters that are more branding than interpretation.
  • (4) The use of social media is something many people take for granted with family and friends but what is considered quirky or funny within private space can seem very different once leaked into the public domain.
  • (5) It’s operated by a young, talented photographer called Bheki Dube and his influence is everywhere – the hostel decor is fantastic – think industrial-chic warehouse apartment with lots of quirky touches.
  • (6) Some may want a book that offers some escape – in which case the quirky English humour of Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle may do the trick, or a pick-me-up dose of HE Bates 's The Darling Buds of May .
  • (7) One could be forgiven for associating director Mike Mills with the word "quirky".
  • (8) Hobsbawm Macaulay received an unusual amount of press attention for a PR start-up, and was portrayed as a rather quirky high-minded experiment, but in fact the agency was attuned to where power increasingly lay in Britain, with the media, the expanding cultural and charitable industries, and the then rising New Labour establishment.
  • (9) Everyone knows about the Humber bridge, but there's some really quirky, unusual stuff that goes on that doesn't happen anywhere else."
  • (10) From being a quirky choice, diesel went mainstream in Europe.
  • (11) Upstairs from the shop, full of quirky impulse buys such as Gemma Correll's Pugs not Drugs tote bags and Emily Warren's papier-mâché busts, there's studio and workshop space, with screen-printing equipment and sewing machines for regular workshops of up to six people.
  • (12) Whitehall eventually intervened, with a government inspector ruling: "Any system of control must make some small place for the dynamic, the unexpected, the downright quirky."
  • (13) YouTube stars are not only entertaining us through their quirky videos and updates but building long lasting relationships with their fans.” The three channels chosen for the company’s first YouTuber-led advertising push in the UK are certainly popular.
  • (14) Virgin would disagree, pointing to a doubling of passenger numbers during its ownership of the franchise and quirky marketing campaigns that helped make it the most well-known rail brand in Britain.
  • (15) His Green Book , a short work setting out his philosophy, has pages and pages dedicated to his quirky views on women, underpinned by a belief that we just have to admit to our biological limitations.
  • (16) In his airy new office, Cable says his views have evolved, but refuses to sit in the quirky modern chair shipped in by his predecessor, Lord Mandelson.
  • (17) But plenty of quirky facts and peculiar tidbits turned up as well.
  • (18) Perhaps led by street fashion and the ever-growing success of fashion bloggers, who have been pushing back to the art-student-meets-festivalgoer look for some time, designers are following suit and demanding quirky models to showcase their clothes.
  • (19) Sandy breaking out of the compound BB3 Sandy's insistence on his quirkiness got rather wearing, so it was just as well he made a bid for escape, with his new best friend Alex wailing, "Be careful, Sandy, be careful!"
  • (20) He describes Seeed as an “open hardware facilitator” – if you have an idea for a quirky product, he can help you make it.

Subtle


Definition:

  • (superl.) Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; -- applied to persons; as, a subtle foe.
  • (superl.) Cunningly devised; crafty; treacherous; as, a subtle stratagem.
  • (superl.) Characterized by refinement and niceness in drawing distinctions; nicely discriminating; -- said of persons; as, a subtle logician; refined; tenuous; sinuous; insinuating; hence, penetrative or pervasive; -- said of the mind; its faculties, or its operations; as, a subtle intellect; a subtle imagination; a subtle process of thought; also, difficult of apprehension; elusive.
  • (superl.) Smooth and deceptive.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) As a group, the three mammalian proteins resemble bovine serum conglutinin and behave as lectins with rather broad sugar specificities directed at certain non-reducing terminal N-acetylglucosamine, mannose, glucose and fucose residues, but with subtle differences in fine specificities.
  • (2) But it will be a subtle difference, because it's already abundantly clear there's no danger of the war being suddenly forgotten, or made to seem irrelevant to our sense of what Europe and the world has to avoid repeating.
  • (3) Communicating sustainability is a subtle attempt at doing good Read more And yet, in environmental terms it is infinitely preferable to prevent waste altogether, rather than recycle it.
  • (4) If, indeed, there is an immunologic basis for pre-eclampsia, it is more subtle than the methodology used in this study is capable of detecting.
  • (5) Subtle differences between Chicago urban and Grand Forks rural climates are reflected in arthritic subjects' degree of pain and their perception of pain-related stress.
  • (6) Critical in this understanding are the subtle changes that occur in the individual patient, reflecting the natural history of the disease or response to its treatment.
  • (7) Subtle cognitive deficits in Inferential Reading Comprehension were detected when Reading Vocabulary was at or better than a twelfth grade level.
  • (8) This histochemical difference corresponded to more subtle differences in Nissl and myelin staining patterns, and suggests further structural subdivisions of potential functional significance.
  • (9) Thus, luciferase transcriptional fusions can detect subtle variations in initial rates of gene expression in a real-time, nondestructive assay.
  • (10) The binding of [3H]PAF to washed human platelets indicated subtle changes between Days 2 and 4, which became more noticeable by Day 6.
  • (11) In this study the temperature dependence of the reactivity of aldolase SH groups is investigated in order to detect subtle changes in the enzyme conformation.
  • (12) The crucial issue of whether subtle behavioral, intellectual, and developmental impairment occurs in young children, as a result of lead-induced CNS damage is discussed in detail.
  • (13) Historically, what made SNL’s campaign coverage so necessary was its ability to highlight the subtle absurdities of the election and exaggerate the ridiculous.
  • (14) It is believed that by looking at such subtle shape differences an understanding of what it means morphologically for a primate to be either more or less arboreal may be achieved.
  • (15) The current magnetic resonance imaging system with computerized image processing is a sensitive and simple method for evaluation of subtle parenchymal changes of the brain.
  • (16) Fundus examination disclosed a subtle cherry red spot bilaterally.
  • (17) Ependymal cells developed luminal fronds that projected into the ventricle and the subpial glia displayed a very subtle gliosis in the form of thin multi-laminated processes.
  • (18) The rapidity of obtaining the results (within one hour), the complete absence of untoward reactions to the radiopharmaceuticals, the much lower frequency of subtle or indeterminate results, the ability to render useful information in the presence of moderate jaundice and the lack of interference from overlying intestinal contents establishes these radionuclide agents as superior to both radiographic oral and intravenous cholangiography in the investigation of the acute abdomen.
  • (19) Moreover, subtle improvements observed in earlier investigations were not confirmed.
  • (20) Various compounds show subtle but significant differences in blood clearance, excretion, and soft-tissue uptake.