subtly
/ˈsʌt.l̩.li/ adverb C1- With subtleness, in a subtle manner; with cleverness rather than brute force.
From the library
Perhaps that is why we are so subtly influenced by it.
There was something subtly wrong with the face, some coarseness of expression, some hardness, perhaps, of eye, some looseness of lip which marred its perfect beauty.
This manipulative formulation subtly shifts the locus of blame from the perpetrator's inappropriate action to the recipient's supposedly hypersensitive emotional reaction.
The researchers subsequently asked the observers to estimate the speed of the vehicles involved, subtly altering the verbs used in the questioning.
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