How to Use subtlety in a Sentence

subtlety

noun
  • The pianist performed with subtlety and passion.
  • The louder ones have all the subtlety of a kid with a snare drum.
    Tony Quiroga, Car and Driver, 21 Mar. 2022
  • The subtlety of the shoulder movement, and the head movements and the eyes.
    Eric Branch, San Francisco Chronicle, 19 Oct. 2021
  • But the video has all the subtlety of a 1990s Calvin Klein campaign.
    Choire Sicha, Vulture, 13 July 2023
  • The art is in the subtlety, not in the effort of trying to convince.
    Kurt Streeter, New York Times, 1 June 2023
  • The subtlety of the sport — which, as any expert will tell you, is nearly all of the sport — is erased.
    Jack Hamilton, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2022
  • For this garlic bread, the subtlety of the garlic is key.
    Tribune News Service, cleveland, 28 Mar. 2022
  • The condenser in the LS-208 has sufficient size to catch the nuance and subtlety of a wide range of sounds.
    Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 10 Feb. 2023
  • When subtlety didn’t work, the Emmys started to play music to try to shoo Coolidge off the stage.
    Tracy Brown, Los Angeles Times, 12 Sep. 2022
  • My mom played, with great talent and subtlety, the role of a mother and a father.
    Lily Moayeri, Billboard, 21 Oct. 2022
  • Then again, considering Uhry and Brown’s text and lyrics, subtlety need not be the name of the game these days.
    Juan A. Ramírez, New York Times, 2 Nov. 2022
  • As an artist, I was fascinated by the extreme side of that, and the subtlety, and had to rush home to sketch it out.
    Eric Twardzik, Robb Report, 29 Mar. 2022
  • Austin sank to the floor and found stunning softness and subtlety in its andante.
    Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 14 Dec. 2023
  • No one ever accused Skrillex of subtlety, and this is prime in-your-face fun.
    Pitchfork, 7 Dec. 2023
  • The conviction of flavors and subtlety in the palate reminds us of her.
    Yola Robert, Forbes, 31 Jan. 2022
  • The iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max offer more detail and more subtlety in the lighting around the puddle to the left, and the city lights in the distance look less blown out.
    Samuel Axon, Ars Technica, 21 Sep. 2022
  • More than a decade after their takeover of the dance scene, the depth and subtlety of Paradise Again reflects that the time taken was worth it.
    Katie Bain, Billboard, 15 Apr. 2022
  • Tell me about the subtleties of what was in your script that wasn’t dialogue — movements, body language, all that.
    Devon Ivie, Vulture, 16 May 2024
  • The expressive subtlety of that moment comes back around in one of the more emotional scenes in the movie.
    Daron James, Los Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2022
  • And the subtlety is the reason why many companies may fail to notice.
    Laura Rodríguez Presa, Chicago Tribune, 1 Jan. 2023
  • By the closing pages, the repetition of the motif has all the subtlety of a blinking neon sign.
    Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2022
  • Zombie has some inventive ideas in terms of how the film is shot, but this lacks any of the subtlety of the original film.
    Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 19 Oct. 2022
  • The statement lies within the subtlety of these Cast earrings.
    Roxanne Adamiyatt, Town & Country, 1 Aug. 2023
  • These tiny bits go a long way to elevate with subtlety.
    Roxanne Adamiyatt, Town & Country, 2 Sep. 2023
  • There’s too much room for error for most restaurants to practice these subtleties.
    Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 29 June 2024
  • Collins has long understood that subtlety is a waste of time and flavor.
    Keaton Bell, Vogue, 19 Sep. 2022
  • Just know that the movie makes a meal of its premise and happily dispenses with subtlety.
    Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 4 Feb. 2022
  • As the sun moves to different windows, and as the rays slope lower at day's end, yet more design subtleties rise to your notice.
    Patrick Bedard, Car and Driver, 1 June 2023
  • The film, the first entry in the Marvel universe with a female lead, channels the spirit of the 1990s both in its setting and in style, with heaping spoonfuls of Samuel L. Jackson and all the plot and subtlety of a blockbuster action movie.
    Jennifer M. Wood, WIRED, 4 July 2024
  • Vain and ill-suited to suburban life, Gabrielle was the only Latina among the leading ladies of Wisteria Lane, a fact that the show established with a comical lack of subtlety.
    Hannah Giorgis, The Atlantic, 5 July 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'subtlety.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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