subtilize

Other forms of subtilize

past tense

subtilized·

present participle

subtilizing·

third person

subtilizes·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about subtilize

What does subtilize mean?

subtilize means "mark fine distinctions and subtleties, as among words". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in subtilize?

subtilize has 3 syllables: sub-ti-lize. The stress falls on "sub".

What is another word for subtilize?

Close synonyms include rarefy, sublimate, subtilise. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is subtilize a common word?

subtilize is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.