Keen
Keen adjective - Able to sense slight impressions or differences.
Usage example: pilots with especially keen eyesight
Subtle is a synonym for keen in perceptive topic. In some cases you can use "Subtle" instead an adjective "Keen", when it comes to topics like acute.
Mutual synonyms
Both words in one sentence
- Kiskae would like to think of himself as one, making subtle remarks in the chat for anyone with a keen eye during the "RPG Makers" videos and invoking the trope directly with a Shout-Out to this very page.
Source: Web Video / Jesse Cox -
Inspector Fowler isn't keen on this at all, and thinking that he isn't being recorded, expresses to his officers what he really feels about the crew being there, not realizing in the middle of his rambling they've come up behind him, despite subtle hints from his fellow officers.
Source: Right Behind Me -
From that point onward, Russian diplomats were always keen to point out that Russia's acuisitions of Qing territory had been by mutual agreement and not made under duress - criticising at great length the French and the Japanese for their own less subtle approaches.
Source: Gunboat Diplomacy
Cite this Source
Subtle and Keen. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 15, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/keen/subtle
Keen & Subtle. N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/keen/subtle>.
Subtle or Keen. 2016. Accessed August 15, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/keen/subtle.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "keen" and "subtle" have occurred on timeline