hairline vs subtle

hairline

adj
  • very thin, as thin as a hair 

noun
  • A fishing line made from hair. 

  • The line along one's forehead where hair starts growing. 

  • A very thin line in writing, drawing, or typography. 

  • A very thin fissure. 

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 hairline and subtle occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )