What's the difference between sly and subtle?

Sly


Definition:

  • (v. t.) Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble; skillful; cautious; shrewd; knowing; -- in a good sense.
  • (v. t.) Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily.
  • (v. t.) Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy; subtle; as, a sly trick.
  • (v. t.) Light or delicate; slight; thin.
  • (adv.) Slyly.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) High pressure liquid chromatography combined with radioimmunoassay showed marked heterogeneity of SPLI and SLI.
  • (2) Evidence of the industrial panic surfaced at Digital Britain when Sly Bailey, the chief executive of Trinity Mirror, suggested that national newspaper websites that chased big online audiences have "devalued news" , whatever that might mean.
  • (3) "It is incredibly hard work," she says with a sly grin.
  • (4) The concentration of somatostatin-like immunoreactivity (SLI) was determined by specific radioimmunoassay in the cerebroventricular fluid of patients with tumours of the basal midline and compared to findings in patients with multiple sclerosis.
  • (5) These neurons are known to also contain somatostatin-like immunoreactivity (SLI).
  • (6) "Everyone calls him the Socialist Worker Padre," one bland senior cleric told me with a sly and dismissive laugh.
  • (7) Minimal pairs differing only in the voicing feature of the initial consonant were produced by four SLI and four language-matched NL children.
  • (8) We studied the effect of tetrahydroaminoacridine (THA) on cerebrospinal fluid somatostatin-like immunoreactivity (CSF-SLI) in probable Alzheimer disease (AD) patients (n = 20) who took part in an open THA treatment trial.
  • (9) The characteristics of children with specific language impairment (SLI) attending four language units in the north-west of England are examined.
  • (10) This work was undertaken to study the effect of glucose on pancreaticoduodenal and peripheral venous somatostatin-like immunoreactivity (SLI) levels in dogs.
  • (11) Sly, underhanded, contemptuous, mendacious, double-dealing, cheating democracy.
  • (12) Grigson is clearly relishing the task ahead, having already toured major investors and playing a key role in the pay dispute, which ultimately resulted in Sly Bailey stepping down after a decade running the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, People and 140 regional newspapers late on Thursday.
  • (13) The most conspicuous feature of the elution profiles was the preponderance of the peak coeluting with synthetic somatostatin-14, whereas the peaks comigrating with synthetic somatostatin-28 and attributable to precursor-like SLI represented only minor or trace amounts of total immunoreactivity.
  • (14) Yet the whole thing was sly and subversive, for it whispered, see, see what you have been missing.
  • (15) The provision of structure in the form of thematically related toy sets, instructions, and modeling did not reduce the discrepancy between demonstrated play behaviors of toddlers with SLI-E and their normally developing peers.
  • (16) SLI levels were found to be significantly lower on day 4 after delivery, compared to 3-4 months later.
  • (17) There was a weak but statistically significant correlation between SLI values in CSF and neuropsychological test scores.
  • (18) The ME was microdissected for determination of SLI content.
  • (19) Sly Bailey, the chief executive of Trinity Mirror, said that the company made £25m in savings and would have increased adjusted operating profits year-on-year if not for a £22m rise in newsprint prices.
  • (20) A great interindividual variation in SLI levels was observed (a range of 0.02 to 5.30 nanograms per milligram of weight).

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.