Definition of Elusive

1. Adjective. Difficult to describe. "A haunting elusive odor"

Similar to: Unidentifiable
Derivative terms: Elude, Elusiveness

2. Adjective. Skillful at eluding capture. "A cabal of conspirators, each more elusive than the archterrorist"
Similar to: Artful
Derivative terms: Elude, Elusiveness

3. Adjective. Difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze. "That elusive thing the soul"
Exact synonyms: Subtle
Similar to: Impalpable
Derivative terms: Elude, Elusiveness

4. Adjective. Making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe. "A problematic situation at home"
Exact synonyms: Baffling, Knotty, Problematic, Problematical, Tough
Similar to: Difficult, Hard
Derivative terms: Knottiness, Problem, Problem, Toughness

Definition of Elusive

1. a. Tending to elude; using arts or deception to escape; adroitly escaping or evading; eluding the grasp; fallacious.

Definition of Elusive

1. Adjective. evading capture, comprehension or remembrance ¹

2. Adjective. rarely seen ¹

3. Adjective. difficult to describe ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Elusive

1. tending to elude [adj]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Elusive

elude
eluded
eluder
eluders
eludes
eludible
eluding
eluent
eluents
elumbated
eluotropic
elurophobia
elurophobias
elusion
elusions
elusive (current term)
elusive ulcer
elusively
elusiveness
elusivenesses
elusory
elutant
elute
eluted
elutes
eluting
elution
elution profile
elution volume
elutions

Literary usage of Elusive

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Art and the Camera: With Forty-nine Illustrations by Antony Guest (1907)
"AN elusive QUALITY Tone is an elusive quality. Indeed, if any one sets himself to find a categorical answer to the question, What is Tone ? he will probably ..."

2. United States Supreme Court Reports by Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, United States Supreme Court (1886)
"elusive presumption is that there was no mistake, and that Price is under no obligation to pay back what he has received. ..."

3. City Homes on Country Lanes: Philosophy and Practice of the Home-in-a-garden by William Ellsworth Smythe (1921)
"... XVI THE elusive MUSHROOM THE mushroom belongs undeniably to the luxurious table, and is mentioned here for the sake of making that table complete; ..."

4. A Canyon Voyage: The Narrative of the Second Powell Expedition Down the by Frederick Samuel Dellenbaugh (1908)
"... CHAPTER VIII Return of the Major—Some Mormon Friends—No Rations at the elusive Dirty Devil — Captain Gunnison's Crossing — An All-night Vigil for Cap. ..."

5. Melomaniacs by James Huneker (1902)
"THE QUEST OF THE elusive To Miss Bella Seymour BALAK, November t,. DEAR DARLING OLD BELLA, — How I wish you were with me. I miss you almost as much as mamma ..."

6. A Concordance to the English Poems of Thomas Gray by Albert Stanburrough Cook, Concordance Society (1908)
"... bow these symptoms befell me? Prop? 95. System. Has from them his system took; Satire 30. Am. Lines 7. T is hard th' elusive Symptoms to explore: Tabby. ..."

7. Barbizon Days: Millet, Corot, Rousseau, Barye by Charles Sprague Smith (1902)
"It is as elusive as the sunset hues in the clouds, as the dance of light upon the forest carpet. What sculptor can seize that ? ..."

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