subtlistn.
/ˈsʌtl̩ɪst/, /ˈsʌtlɪst/, U.S. /ˈsəd(ə)ləst/ Now rare.
= subtilist n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > discernment, discrimination > [noun] > subtle point > person addicted to
subtilist1610
subtlist1829
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > misleading argument, sophistry > excessive subtlety, hair-splitting > [noun] > practitioner of
ergonist1593
ergo1597
subtilist1610
subtilizer1611
ob-and-soller1678
ergoteerer1687
splitter1699
ergotist1739
subtlist1829
straw-splitter1844
hair-splitter1851
pilpulist1859
ergoteur1881
1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Devereux I. iii. i. 155 The struggles and terrors of these little winged creatures should strike the good subtleist in a point of view so irresistibly ludicrous and delightful.
1840 T. Carlyle tr. ‘Novalis’ in Crit. & Misc. Ess. (ed. 2) II. 237 The true Scholastic is a mystical Subtlist [1829 Subtilist].
1887 T. Hardy Woodlanders III. xii. 239 A subtlist in emotions, he cultivated as under glasses strange and mournful pleasures.
a1963 W. C. Williams Embodiment of Knowl. (1977) 109 The subtlists—like G. B. S.—act on the belief that men have missed the truth.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1829