The only thing more dramatic than @ing someone in a tweet and proceeding to rip their entire personality to shreds is to take a calculated step back from the verbal bashing and play a much craftier hand.

While most iconic celebrity clashes in history leave absolutely nothing up for debate, plenty others involve enough side-stepping, barbed insults, and backhanded compliments to leave even Shakespeare’s head spinning.

'Let's get checking out a bunch of celebrity exes who had major social-media beef after their split...'

So forget storming into a social-media clash with all guns blazing and a pile of receipts at hand, because these celebrities proved that nothing quite hits the spot like a savage subtweet.

1. When Britney Spears hit back at Katy Perry’s mental health joke

The bad blood began when Katy made a comment at the 2017 Grammys about taking some time off to focus on her mental health. Her remark about “not shaving her head yet” was a clear reference to Britney’s public and very painful breakdown in 2007.

Cracking out her bible to fling a bit of shade in Katy’s direction, Britney found the verse she was looking forin Luke 6:45, reading: “Her mouth speaks from that which fills her heart.”

2. When Gregg Sulkin had his say on Bella Thorne’s romances

Bella and her Disney boyfriend Gregg confirmed the end of the year-long relationship back in 2016, only for Bella to be pictured smooching her brother’s ex-girlfriend beforefalling into the arms of Gregg’s ex-BFF, Tyler Posey.

Gregg never directly commented on the situation, but seemingly referenced the incidentwith the comment: “Children want attention”

3. When Sarah Michelle Gellar slated the Kardashians

Ever wondered why Sarah is expecting hate mail in the form of Kimoji perfume? It’s a short but brutal tale that stems back to the time in 2014 when Sarah “cancelled” her subscription to Vogue magazine in response to Kim and Kanye’s joint cover.

As subtweets go, this one gains exactly no points on the subtlety scale.

4. When Katy Perry compared Taylor Swift to Regina George

The feud that has probably only been toppled by the snake drama of 2016 began with a pretty tame dispute over Taylor’s back-up dancers that soon escalated into full out war.

When Taylor dropped ‘Bad Blood’ and hinted it was about another woman in the music industry, Katy responded with some Mean Girls inspired shade all of her own: “Watch out for the Regina George in sheep's clothing...”

5. When Lady Gaga shut down Adam Levine

The Maroon 5 singer was probably the only person in the world who couldn’t find any redeeming qualities in Lady Gaga’s video for ‘Applause.’ He essentially compared the singer to an “art teacher” and accused her of repackaging old ideas for a 21st century audience.

But Gaga couldn’t have been less fussed by the criticism, responding: “uh oh guys the art police is here.”

6. When Lewis Bloor and Marnie Simpson got wise about their split

It was a break-up that was splashed all over the newspapers after Lewis Bloor was caught cheating on Geordie Shore’s Marnie Simpson on Valentine’s Day of all occasions.

Marnie soon tookto social-media with a cryptic message about not trusting well-known “deceivers” while he referenced the split by pointing out that all good things come to an end with or without the help of infidelity.

7. When Louis Tomlinson slammed Zayn Malik and Naughty Boy

After Zayn and Naughty Boy had been pictured hanging out together in the studio after his One Direction exit, Louis proved that literally nothing is sacred by going in on both their friendship and Instagram aesthetic.

“Remember when you were 12 and you used to think those Mac filters for your pictures were cool haha ! Some people still do HA!”

Brutal.

8. When Calvin Harris accused Taylor Swift oftrying to 'bury' him

In the space of five now-deleted tweets, Calvin confirmed that ex-girlfriend Taylor had helped co-write ‘This Is What You Came For’ under the pseudonym Nils Sjoberg and publicly accused her of trying “to bury him” alongside arch-nemesis #1 Katy Perry.

All this without a single @ or mention of Taylor’s name. Crikey.

9. When Kim Kardashian celebrated National Snake Day

It was the subtweet that broke the internet, re-wrote the history of the snake emoji, and prompted Taylor to take a tactical step back from the mainstream media and internet as a whole.

The receipts on this go way back to the dispute over whether Taylor approved lyrics calling her a “bitch” in Kanye West’s song ‘Famous.’ After a bit of back and forth, Kim released an edited section of the phone call proving that Tay did give the go-ahead to at least some parts of the song before its release.

10. When Demi Lovato shaded Halsey's criticism of her lyrics

This kicked offwhen Halsey quoted Demi’s song ‘Cool For The Summer’ while making a comment about the way bisexuality is often represented in mainstream music.

In an interview with Paper, Halsey said: “[I don't like that] bisexuality [is seen] as a taboo: ‘Don’t tell your mom’, or ‘We shouldn’t do this’, or 'This feels so wrong but it’s so right.'"

Demi got wind of the criticism, and fired back: "You know a song is a hit when people are still talking about the lyrics two years later. #shhhhdonttellyourmother"

11. When Chris Hughes took aim at Marnie Simpson

This awkward interaction began when Marnie Simpson leapt to the defence of Celebrity Big Brother after some viewers accused the show of copying Love Island’s format.

“Annoying that people would assume that CBB are copying love island, celebrities don’t copy civilians, more the other way round. Pipe down,” she responded, only for Chris Hughes to give a special shout-out to “civilians” he was set to meet and greet at an event in Southampton. Awkward.

So there you have it. Proof that a 280 character subtweet can speak a thousand words.

'Words by Lucia Ennis'