Subtle vs. Settle — What's the Difference?

(especially of a change or distinction) so delicate or precise as to be difficult to analyse or describe

To end or resolve (a dispute, for example) by making a decision or coming to an agreement.

Making use of clever and indirect methods to achieve something

To resolve (a lawsuit or dispute) by mutual agreement of the parties rather than by court decision.

Crafty; cunning

To make the determinations and distributions of (a trust).

So slight as to be difficult to detect or describe; elusive

To make compensation for (a claim).

Difficult to understand; abstruse

To pay (a debt).

Able to make fine distinctions

To put into order; arrange as desired

Operating in a hidden, usually injurious way; insidious

To place or arrange in a desired position

Characterized by skill or ingenuity; clever.

To agree to or fix in advance

Crafty or sly; devious.

To establish as a resident or residents

Hard to grasp; not obvious or easily understood.

To migrate to and establish residence in; colonize

Barely noticeable, not obvious, indistinct.

To establish in a residence, business, or profession

(of a thing) Cleverly contrived.

To restore calmness or comfort to

(of a person or animal) Cunning, skillful.

To cause to sink, become compact, or come to rest

Insidious.

To cause (a liquid) to become clear by forming a sediment.

Tenuous; rarefied; of low density or thin consistency.

To discontinue moving and come to rest in one place

(obsolete) Refined; exquisite.

To move downward; sink or descend, especially gradually

Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; - applied to persons; as, a subtle foe.

To become clear by the sinking of suspended particles. Used of liquids.

Cunningly devised; crafty; treacherous; as, a subtle stratagem.

To be separated from a solution or mixture as a sediment.

Characterized by refinement and niceness in drawing distinctions; nicely discriminating; - said of persons; as, a subtle logician; refined; tenuous; sinuous; insinuating; hence, penetrative or pervasive; - said of the mind; its faculties, or its operations; as, a subtle intellect; a subtle imagination; a subtle process of thought; also, difficult of apprehension; elusive.

To become compact by sinking, as sediment when stirred up.

Smooth and deceptive.

To establish one's residence

Be difficult to detect or grasp by the mind;

To become established or localized

Faint and difficult to analyze;

To reach a decision; decide

Able to make fine distinctions;

To come to an agreement, especially to resolve a lawsuit out of court.

Working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way;

To provide compensation for a claim.

To pay a debt.

A long wooden bench with a high back, often including storage space beneath the seat.

To conclude or resolve (something):

(transitive) To determine (something which was exposed to doubt or question); to resolve conclusively; to set or fix (a time, an order of succession, etc).

(transitive) To conclude, to cause (a dispute) to finish.

(transitive) To close, liquidate or balance (an account) by payment, sometimes of less than is owed or due.

To pay (a bill).

(intransitive) To adjust differences or accounts; to come to an agreement on matters in dispute.

(intransitive) To conclude a lawsuit by agreement of the parties rather than a decision of a court.

(transitive) To place or arrange in(to) a desired (especially: calm) state, or make final disposition of (something).

(transitive) To put into (proper) place; to make sit or lie properly.

(transitive) To cause to no longer be in a disturbed, confused or stormy; to quiet; to calm (nerves, waters, a boisterous or rebellious child, etc).

To silence, especially by force.

To kill.

(transitive) To bring or restore (ground, roads, etc) to a smooth, dry, or passable condition.

(intransitive) To become calm, quiet, or orderly; to stop being agitated.

(intransitive) To become firm, dry, and hard, like the ground after the effects of rain or frost have disappeared.

To establish or become established in a steady position:

(transitive) To place in(to) a fixed or permanent condition or position or on(to) a permanent basis; to make firm, steady, or stable; to establish or fix.

(transitive) In particular, to establish in life; to fix in business, in a home, etc.

To formally, legally secure (an annuity, property, title, etc) on (a person).

(intransitive) To become married, or a householder.

To be established in a profession or in employment.

To become stationary or fixed; to come to rest.

(intransitive) To fix one's residence in a place; to establish a dwelling place, home, or colony. settle down.}}

To colonize (an area); to migrate to (a land, territory, site, etc).

(transitive) To move (people) to (a land or territory), so as to colonize it; to cause (people) to take residence in (a place).

To sink, or cause (something, or impurities within it) to sink down, especially so as to become clear or compact.

(transitive) To clear or purify (a liquid) of dregs and impurities by causing them to sink.

(transitive) To cause to sink down or to be deposited (dregs, sediment, etc).

(transitive) To render compact or solid; to cause to become packed down.

(intransitive) To sink to the bottom of a body of liquid, as dregs of a liquid, or the sediment of a reservoir.

(intransitive) To sink gradually to a lower level; to subside, for example the foundation of a house, etc.

(intransitive) To become compact due to sinking.

(intransitive) To become clear due to the sinking of sediment. Used especially of liquid. also used figuratively.

To make a jointure for a spouse.

(ambitransitive) Of an animal: to make or become pregnant.

(archaic) A seat of any kind.

A long bench with a high back and arms, often with chest or storage space underneath.

(obsolete) A place made lower than the rest; a wide step or platform lower than some other part. Compare a depression.

A seat of any kind.

A bench; especially, a bench with a high back.

A place made lower than the rest; a wide step or platform lower than some other part.

To place in a fixed or permanent condition; to make firm, steady, or stable; to establish; to fix; esp., to establish in life; to fix in business, in a home, or the like.

To establish in the pastoral office; to ordain or install as pastor or rector of a church, society, or parish; as, to settle a minister.

To cause to be no longer in a disturbed condition; to render quiet; to still; to calm; to compose.

To clear of dregs and impurities by causing them to sink; to render pure or clear; - said of a liquid; as, to settle coffee, or the grounds of coffee.

To restore or bring to a smooth, dry, or passable condition; - said of the ground, of roads, and the like; as, clear weather settles the roads.

To cause to sink; to lower; to depress; hence, also, to render close or compact; as, to settle the contents of a barrel or bag by shaking it.

To determine, as something which is exposed to doubt or question; to free from unscertainty or wavering; to make sure, firm, or constant; to establish; to compose; to quiet; as, to settle the mind when agitated; to settle questions of law; to settle the succession to a throne; to settle an allowance.

To adjust, as something in discussion; to make up; to compose; to pacify; as, to settle a quarrel.

To adjust, as accounts; to liquidate; to balance; as, to settle an account.

Hence, to pay; as, to settle a bill.

To plant with inhabitants; to colonize; to people; as, the French first settled Canada; the Puritans settled New England; Plymouth was settled in 1620.

To become fixed or permanent; to become stationary; to establish one's self or itself; to assume a lasting form, condition, direction, or the like, in place of a temporary or changing state.

To fix one's residence; to establish a dwelling place or home; as, the Saxons who settled in Britain.

To enter into the married state, or the state of a householder.

To be established in an employment or profession; as, to settle in the practice of law.

To become firm, dry, and hard, as the ground after the effects of rain or frost have disappeared; as, the roads settled late in the spring.

To become clear after being turbid or obscure; to clarify by depositing matter held in suspension; as, the weather settled; wine settles by standing.

To sink to the bottom; to fall to the bottom, as dregs of a liquid, or the sediment of a reserveir.

To sink gradually to a lower level; to subside, as the foundation of a house, etc.

To become calm; to cease from agitation.

To adjust differences or accounts; to come to an agreement; as, he has settled with his creditors.

To make a jointure for a wife.

A long wooden bench with a back

Settle into a position, usually on a surface or ground;

Bring to an end; settle conclusively;

Settle conclusively; come to terms;

Take up residence and become established;

Come to terms;

Go under,

Become settled or established and stable in one's residence or life style;

Become resolved, fixed, established, or quiet;

Establish or develop as a residence;

Come to rest

Become clear by the sinking of particles;

Arrange or fix in the desired order;

Accept despite complete satisfaction;

End a legal dispute by arriving at a settlement;

Dispose of; make a financial settlement

Cause to become clear by forming a sediment (of liquids)

Sink down or precipitate;

Fix firmly;

Get one's revenge for a wrong or an injury;

Make final; put the last touches on; put into final form;

Form a community;

Come as if by falling;