a priori vs subtle

a priori

adj
  • Presumed without analysis. 

  • Self-evident, intuitively obvious. 

  • Based on hypothesis and theory rather than experiment or empirical evidence. 

  • Developed entirely from scratch, without deriving it from existing languages. 

adv
  • In a way based on theoretical deduction rather than empirical observation. 

subtle

adj
  • Barely noticeable, not obvious, indistinct. 

  • Tenuous; rarefied; of low density or thin consistency. 

  • Cleverly contrived. 

  • Cunning, skillful. 

  • Insidious. 

  • Hard to grasp; not obvious or easily understood. 

How often have the words a priori and subtle occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )