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View synonyms for elusive

elusive

[ ih-loo-siv ]

adjective

  1. eluding or failing to allow for or accommodate a clear perception or complete mental grasp; hard to express or define:

    an elusive concept.

  2. cleverly or skillfully evasive:

    a fish too elusive to catch.

    Synonyms: baffling, puzzling, shifty, slippery, tricky

  3. difficult to find:

    hoping that elusive donors will finally contribute.



elusive

/ ɪˈluːsɪv /

adjective

  1. difficult to catch

    an elusive thief

  2. preferring or living in solitude and anonymity
  3. difficult to remember

    an elusive thought

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Usage

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Derived Forms

  • eˈlusively, adverb
  • eˈlusiveness, noun
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Other Words From

  • e·lusive·ly adverb
  • e·lusive·ness noun
  • none·lusive adjective
  • none·lusive·ly adverb
  • none·lusive·ness noun
  • une·lusive adjective
  • une·lusive·ly adverb
  • une·lusive·ness noun
  • une·luso·ry adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of elusive1

First recorded in 1710–20; elus(ion) + -ive
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Compare Meanings

How does elusive compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

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Example Sentences

For the most part, these mountain lions are staying elusive and sticking to eating their natural prey.

If seed rounds are becoming more elusive, maybe skip on that last hire, extend the runway, and try to gain some revenues.

This allows us to dramatically increase our digital inventory and efficiently offer this incredibly elusive audience to a whole new set of advertisers.

From Digiday

They must make assumptions not only about the virus’s biology, which remains far from fully understood, but about human behavior, which can be even more slippery and elusive.

However, establishing a causal relation between approaches to phonics instruction and gains in real reading has been more elusive.

Huckabee will also need to establish a reliable fundraising base, something that up until now has proved to be elusive.

As far as finally being acknowledged herself with that elusive Academy gold, well, Moore says she would not take it for granted.

There will be a lot of talk about “sustainable” development, but so far that has been elusive.

But the deliverance and liberation that has been longed for by Jews and Christians has proven to be an elusive thing.

They are an elusive bunch, in motion or in the thrall of another time.

That suddenly altered tone had awakened an elusive memory, but neither of them could succeed in identifying it.

Its elusive light lay upon the slope, but ledge and stone seemed less distinct than their shadows, which were black as ebony.

A faintly embarrassing situation this, even for an ancestor of the elusive Pimpernel.

The look in her face was quizzical, yet there was a strange, elusive gravity in her eyes, an almost pathetic appealing.

Yet the real difficulty is still before an author: it is to decide what stamp to put upon such elusive matter as ideas.

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elusionelusory