verb
-
to escape or avoid (capture, one's pursuers, etc), esp by cunning
-
to avoid fulfilment of (a responsibility, obligation, etc); evade
-
to escape discovery, or understanding by; baffle
the solution eluded her
Usage
Elude is sometimes wrongly used where allude is meant: he was alluding (not eluding) to his previous visit to the city
Related Words
See escape.
Other Word Forms
- eluder noun
- elusion noun
Etymology
Origin of elude
First recorded in 1530–40; from Latin ēlūdere “to deceive, evade,” equivalent to ē- “from, out of” + lūdere “to play, deceive”; see e- 1
Explanation
Elude means "evade or escape," like the way you might elude the other kids during a game of hide-and-seek. This word can also mean "to be hard to understand." No matter how hard you try, the finer points of quantum physics might elude you. Elude has a slippery feeling to it. You elude the police, math can elude you — and that yak you went to see on safari but never got a glimpse of, you might say that he has eluded you as well. Delude means "to deceive," and there are times when someone can both delude and elude you — like when the conman took your money and then escaped out the back door.
Vocabulary lists containing elude
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The Outsiders
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Grade 9, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
High-speed trains, and pretty much any mass transportation improvement, continue to elude the United States, but one can experience them elsewhere.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2026
Carlos Alcaraz is targeting a career Grand Slam at the Australian Open but winning the only major to elude him will be no easy feat with great rival Jannik Sinner standing in his way.
From Barron's • Jan. 14, 2026
The Londoner - having previously lost in world championship bouts to Sergey Kovalev in 2019 and Artur Beterbiev in 2022 - may now have to accept the possibility that a world title might elude him.
From BBC • Nov. 22, 2025
Its pleasures will elude those who don’t know, or care about, such subsidiary characters as E.B.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 16, 2025
After the dance, he’d attempt to find me, but I’d elude him.
From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
