elusive


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elusive

hard to express or define: an elusive concept; tricky, slippery; baffling; shifty: an elusive felon
Not to be confused with:
allusive – having reference to something implied or referred: The clever remark was allusive to Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew.
illusive – deceptive; misleading: an illusive alibi; false; unreal; imaginary: an illusive reference to ghosts and goblins

elusive

hard to express: an elusive concept; cleverly evasive: an elusive con man; tricky, slippery, shifty, baffling
Not to be confused with:
illusive – deceptive, misleading; of the nature of an illusion; unreal; false; imaginary; fancied: an illusive appearance of the deceased during a séance.
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree Copyright © 2007, 2013 by Mary Embree

e·lu·sive

 (ĭ-lo͞o′sĭv, -zĭv)
adj.
1. Tending to elude capture, perception, comprehension, or memory: "an invisible cabal of conspirators, each more elusive than the archterrorist [himself]" (David Kline).
2. Difficult to define or describe: "Failures are more finely etched in our minds than triumphs, and success is an elusive, if not mythic, goal in our demanding society" (Hugh Drummond).

[From Latin ēlūsus, past participle of ēlūdere, to elude; see elude.]

e·lu′sive·ly adv.
e·lu′sive·ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

elusive

(ɪˈluːsɪv)
adj
1. difficult to catch: an elusive thief.
2. preferring or living in solitude and anonymity
3. difficult to remember: an elusive thought.
eˈlusively adv
eˈlusiveness n
Usage: See at illusory
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

e•lu•sive

(ɪˈlu sɪv)

also e•lu•so•ry

(-sə ri, -zə-)

adj.
1. eluding one's clear perception; hard to express or define.
2. skillfully evasive.
[1710–20; elus (ion) + -ive]
e•lu′sive•ly, adv.
e•lu′sive•ness, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.elusive - difficult to describe; "a haunting elusive odor"
unidentifiable - impossible to identify
2.elusive - skillful at eluding capture; "a cabal of conspirators, each more elusive than the archterrorist"- David Kline
artful - marked by skill in achieving a desired end especially with cunning or craft; "the artful dodger"; "an artful choice of metaphors"
3.elusive - difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze; "his whole attitude had undergone a subtle change"; "a subtle difference"; "that elusive thing the soul"
impalpable - imperceptible to the senses or the mind; "an impalpable cloud"; "impalpable shadows"; "impalpable distinctions"; "as impalpable as a dream"
4.elusive - making great mental demandselusive - making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe; "a baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at home"
difficult, hard - not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure; "a difficult task"; "nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access"; "difficult times"; "why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

elusive

adjective
1. difficult to catch, tricky, slippery, difficult to find, evasive, shifty I had no luck in tracking down this elusive man.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

elusive

adjective
Characterized by or exhibiting evasion:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
ebamääranepuiklik
nehezen megfogható
evaziv
nepolapiteľný
ele geçmezkaypak

elusive

[ɪˈluːsɪv] ADJ [prey, enemy] → esquivo, escurridizo; [thoughts, word] → inaprensible; [success] → esquivo, difícil de conseguir
he is very elusiveno es fácil encontrarlo
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

elusive

[ɪˈluːsɪv] adj
[person, animal] → insaisissable
[quality, happiness, success] → insaisissable; [win, title, goal, prize] → hors d'atteinte; [solution, answer] → difficile à trouver
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

elusive

adj
truthschwer fassbar; goal, target, successschwer erreichbar; (= unattainable)unerreichbar; happiness seems to be an elusive state for some peopleGlück scheint für manche Menschen ein unerreichbarer Zustand zu sein; there was an elusive quality about RobertRobert hatte etwas schwer Fassbares an sich (dat); financial success proved elusiveder finanzielle Erfolg wollte sich nicht einstellen; his answer to my question was elusiveer antwortete mir ausweichend
personschwer zu erreichen; animalscheu; preyschwer zu fangen; he remained elusiveer blieb unauffindbar
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

elusive

[ɪˈluːsɪv] adj (prey, enemy) → inafferrabile; (thoughts, word, success) → che sfugge; (glance) → sfuggevole
he is very elusive → è proprio inafferrabile
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

elude

(iˈluːd) verb
1. to escape or avoid by quickness or cleverness. He eluded his pursuers.
2. to be too difficult etc for (a person) to understand or remember. The meaning of this poem eludes me.
eˈlusive (-siv) adjective
escaping or vanishing, often or cleverly. an elusive criminal.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
Moreover, much about the same time as Firenzuola was writing, Botticelli's blonde, angular, retrousse women were breaking every one of that beauty- master's canons, perfect in beauty none the less; and lovers then, and perhaps particularly now, have found the perfect beauty in faces to which Messer Firenzuola would have denied the name of face at all, by virtue of a quality which indeed he has tabulated, but which is far too elusive and undefinable, too spiritual for him truly to have understood,--a quality which nowadays we are tardily recognising as the first and last of all beauty, either of nature or art,--the supreme, truly divine, because materialistically unaccountable, quality of Charm!
Up wind he followed the elusive spoor with a sense of perception so transcending that of ordinary man as to be inconceivable to us.
Sabin assumed the puzzled air of one endeavouring to pin down an elusive memory.
Also they made more grotesque an al- ready grotesque and elusive individuality.
People turned their heads to look at her, and more than one lent an attentive car to her utterances, hoping thereby to secure the elusive but ever-desired "tip." Arobin caught the contagion of excitement which drew him to Edna like a magnet.
Perhaps they were; or perhaps there might have been shoals of them in the far horizon; but lulled into such an opium-like listlessness of vacant, unconscious reverie is this absent-minded youth by the blending cadence of waves with thoughts, that at last he loses his identity; takes the mystic ocean at his feet for the visible image of that deep, blue, bottomless soul, pervading mankind and nature; and every strange, half-seen, gliding, beautiful thing that eludes him; every dimly-discovered, uprising fin of some undiscernible form, seems to him the embodiment of those elusive thoughts that only people the soul by continually flitting through it.
When Woola had finished his meal I again took up my weary and seemingly endless wandering in quest of the elusive waterway.
What strange developments of humanity, what wonderful advances upon our rudimentary civilization, I thought, might not appear when I came to look nearly into the dim elusive world that raced and fluctuated before my eyes!
It was an elusive vision--a moment of bewildering darkness, and then, in a flash like daylight, the red masses of the Orphanage near the crest of the hill, the green tops of the pine trees, and this problematical object came out clear and sharp and bright.
The tribe was feeding quietly, spread over a considerable area, when a great screaming arose some distance east of where Tarzan lay upon his belly beside a limpid brook, attempting to catch an elusive fish in his quick, brown hands.
Richard was devoting his royal energies to chasing an elusive butterfly which fate led nearer and nearer to the cold, hard watcher in the bushes.
Diana Barry, rosy and dimpled, shadowed by the faithful Fred; Jane Andrews, neat and sensible and plain; Ruby Gillis, looking her handsomest and brightest in a cream silk blouse, with red geraniums in her golden hair; Gilbert Blythe and Charlie Sloane, both trying to keep as near the elusive Anne as possible; Carrie Sloane, looking pale and melancholy because, so it was reported, her father would not allow Oliver Kimball to come near the place; Moody Spurgeon MacPherson, whose round face and objectionable ears were as round and objectionable as ever; and Billy Andrews, who sat in a corner all the evening, chuckled when any one spoke to him, and watched Anne Shirley with a grin of pleasure on his broad, freckled countenance.