imperceptibleadj.n.

?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1872) IV. 391 The kynde of perellous men spronge in Ierusalem, whiche did sle men in the liȝhte day by arte imperceptible [L. inperceptibili arte].

?1546 W. Peryn Thre Serm. i. f. xviii In an instaunt, and tyme imperceptable, that precyous and dyuyne bodye, toke perfecte fourme..in the virgineall wombe.

1602 A. Munday tr. P. de Mornay True Knowl. Mans Owne Selfe 12 The finest & perfectest blood (regularlie placed vnder the veines, by poares & little holes almost imperceptible).

1645 W. Prynne Hidden Workes Darkenes To Rdr. Many Passages..to Vsher Popery into all our Dominions by inperceptible steps.

1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. viii. 33 The additional Acclivity..would be imperceptible.

1737 S. Berington Mem. G. di Lucca 84 An imperceptible Dew, which tho' not so thick as a Fog, moisten'd the Surface of the Ground.

1793 T. Martyn Lang. Bot. sig. H6^v Fovilla, a fine substance, imperceptible to the naked eye, exploded by the pollen in the anthers of flowers.

1869 A. R. C. Dallas My Life vii. 102 By imperceptable degrees the troops ranged through that country.

1880 A. Geikie Elem. Lessons Physical Geogr. (new ed.) iv. 216 The solid earth is subject to movements either sudden and violent, or slow and imperceptible.

1919 J. Joyce Ulysses x. [Wandering Rocks] in Little Rev. July 31 An inperceptible [1922 imperceptible] smile played round her perfect lips as she turned to him calmly.

1978 Cherokee (Iowa) Daily Times 26 Sept. p3/3 Their almost imperceptable movement takes them to some unknown spot to weather out the harsh winter.

2012 Wall St. Jrnl. 26 May c6/5 They're..poring endlessly over the imperceptible differences of Empids—those difficult little flycatchers.

1536 J. Gwynneth Confut. Fyrst Parte Frythes Boke iiii. sig. a.viii^v Who..can purge cure and hele, this insensyble, imperceptyble incredyble..sykenesse?

1583 J. Foxe Actes & Monuments (ed. 4) II. 1413/2 That obscure, darke, & inperceptible [1563 imperceptible] presence of Christes natural body to remayne in the sacrament vpon earth inuisibly.

1613 J. Florio tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. (rev. ed.) i. iii. 8 Is it temperance and frugalitie, to avoid charge and voluptuousnes, the vse and knowledge of which is inperceptable vnto vs?

a1680 J. Corbet Humble Endeavour (1683) iii. viii. 25 A secret inperceptible constant act in the soul.

1720 Independent Whig 31 Dec. 422 Nature works by a Thousand Ways imperceptible to us.

1777 S. Johnson Serm. for Dodd 6 Freed from their bonds by the imperceptible agency of divine power.

1840 T. Hood Miss Kilmansegg i, in New Monthly Mag. 60 89 He..Seem'd washing his hands with invisible soap, In imperceptible water.

1896 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 9 Jan. 4/3 There are things inperceptable to our senses..which are quite sufficiently clear to the dumb beast.

1918 Living Age 1 June 535/1 The chain that binds physician and patient.., though composed of a subtle, intangible, imperceptible force, is complete and unbreakable.

1975 G. A. Maloney Mystic of Fire & Light vi. 190 How does the imperceptible God become perceptible to man?

2012 S. Tester in tr. G. C. Lichtenberg Philos. Writings 21 Attractionists, such as Kant,..explained gravity as the result of an imperceptible force that attracted one body to another.

1659 T. St. Serfe tr. S. de Cyrano de Bergerac Σεληναρχια sig. K2^v Why they are [sc. worms] bigger then other imperceptibles?

1705 D. Defoe Consolidator 91 The Imperceptibles of Nature; such as, Soul, Thought, Honesty, Religion, [etc.].

1709 J. Addison Tatler No. 119. ⁋2 I should be wonderfully pleased to see a natural History of Imperceptibles, containing a true Account of such Vegetables and Animals as grow and live out of Sight.

1804 ‘S. Nobody’ Biter Bit 7 He..suggested mathematical micrometers to measure the imperceptibles of cock maggots.

1850 Wool Grower Jan. 151/1 Is it not a mystery, that a tangible can be produced from an imperceptible? that wood can be produced from atmosphere alone?

1911 Nation 16 Feb. 160/3 Bagehot said that the main reason why Ricardo made such advance in political economy was that he was skilled in taking account of the ‘imperceptibles’.

1967 F. E. Peters Greek Philos. Lexicon 126 The mind is also capable of entering the realm of the imperceptibles..to perform a discursive reasoning process.

2011 Synthese 182 17 Relaxing Van Fraassen's conditions for observability and empirical adequacy to admit imperceptibles that register on experimental equipment.

1859 R. Wrightson Introd. Treat. Sanscrit Hagiographa i. 22 The knowledge of the twenty-five principles divided into the perceptible, the imperceptible, and the soul.

1867 H. Spencer First Princ. (ed. 2) ii. xii. §93. 278 An entire history of anything must include its appearance out of the imperceptible and its disappearance into the imperceptible.

1936 H. Craig Enchanted Glass i. 1 One effect of this form of thinking was to make the unseen and the imperceptible a real thing, so that the supernatural seemed ready at any time to pass over the margin and assume a perceptible form.

1960 Indian Jrnl. Polit. Sci. 21 122 A king's course of action has to be inferred from the perceptible and the imperceptible.

2007 Science 6 July 18/1 The speed of change in ecosystems ranges from the imperceptible to the abrupt.

1673 M. Hale Ess. Fluid Bodies ix. 83 It sufficeth, to give some account of the Imperceptibleness, or at least Inconsiderableness of the difference of the gravitations of Water in various Depths.

1882 J. Parker Apostolic Life I. 15 The gradient has evermore lifted itself up by imperceptibleness of degree.

2007 S. T. McClean Digital Storytelling iv. 83 The spectacular attraction is the photoreal standard of the imagery, its imperceptibleness being the measure of its quality.