α. 1600s supersuttle, 1600s– supersubtle.
β. 1600s supersubtill, 1600s 1800s– supersubtile.
supersubtleadj.
/ˌsuːpəˈsʌtl/, /ˌsjuːpəˈsʌtl/, U.S. /ˌsupərˈsədəl/ Extremely or excessively subtle; oversubtle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > cunning > [adjective] > very or excessively
over-cunning1604
supersubtle1605
super-politic1659
the world > matter > constitution of matter > lack of density > [adjective] > very
supersubtle1823
lighter-than-air1909
α.
β. 1614 S. Purchas Pilgrimage (ed. 2) ii. xii. 175 The Cabalist as a super subtile transcendent, mounteth..from this sensible world vnto that other intellectuall.1823 C. Lamb in London Mag. June 678/1 By reason that Mature Humanity is too gross to breathe the air of that super-subtile region.1856 R. A. Vaughan Hours with Mystics (1860) II. 75 The super-subtile fancies of theosophy.1915 C. L. de Chambrun Pieces of Game 22 She liked Malory..better than the French version of the King Arthur stories, and preferred the simple Anglo-Saxon to the wily and supersubtile Latin.1605 E. Sandys Relation State of Relig. sig. K3 Advancing them in the rest of their super-suttle [1629 super-subtill] inventions.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) i. iii. 355 A fraile vow, betwixt an erring Barbarian, and a super subtle Venetian. View more context for this quotation
1694 tr. Terence Fair Andrian in Terence's Comedies 26 This 'tis to be super-subtle!
1750 T. Edwards Canons Crit. (ed. 3) viii. 77 Here our Profess'd Critic, in order to introduce a supersubtle and forced explanation of his own, is searching after knots in a bulrush.
1797 W. Godwin Enquirer i. xiii. 113 The hilarity of youth..would be even preserved to old age; were it not for false ideas of decorum, a species of hypocrisy, a supersubtle attention to the supposed minutiæ of character, that lead us to check our spontaneous efforts.
1830 M. R. Mitford Our Village IV. 111 Over-informed, super-subtle, too clever for her age.
1879 J. McCarthy Hist. our Own Times II. xxiv. 211 A tendency to over-refining and super-subtle argument.
1935 E. Bowen House in Paris (1983) ii. v. 106 But he was in no way supersubtle or florid, and no doubt could have been a gentleman had he wished.
1963 L. Edel Henry James 13 For a brief moment he entertained the common fantasy of novitiates in fiction that this would be a Great American Novel: even the supersubtle James allowed himself this cliché-dream of overnight fame and power.
2005 R. Hill Stranger House (2006) v. 324 To his father, who Madero judged wouldn't have been out of place in the super-subtle political world of the Curia, he must have been a great disappointment.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adj.1605