Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Tending to elude capture, perception, comprehension, or memory.
- adjective Difficult to define or describe.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Eluding, or having a tendency to elude; hard to grasp or confine; slippery.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Tending to elude; using arts or deception to escape; adroitly escaping or evading; eluding the grasp; fallacious.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
evading capture ,comprehension orremembrance - adjective
rarely seen - adjective
difficult todescribe
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
- adjective skillful at eluding capture
- adjective making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe
- adjective difficult to describe
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Bringing the discussion up to date, Orr finds that Jorie Graham, Geoffrey Hill, and Derek Walcott today are considered the epitome of ambition, while the quieter Kay Ryan finds the label elusive.
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Anis Shivani 2011
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He argued that unraveling these links is “devilishly” complex and thus “the connections between geology and wine will remain elusive for some time to come.”
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He argued that unraveling these links is “devilishly” complex and thus “the connections between geology and wine will remain elusive for some time to come.”
Rocks for shocks: geologists don’t “debunk” terroir; minerality questioned | Dr Vino's wine blog 2009
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Wickremesinghe was willing to forgo his long-term elusive presidential aspirations to former army commander Sarath Fonseka, whose entrance into politics was just as sudden and surprising as the ending of the war in which he played a significant role.
Anuradha K. Herath: Sri Lanka's Opposition Party Crumbles in Public 2010
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Wickremesinghe was willing to forgo his long-term elusive presidential aspirations to former army commander Sarath Fonseka, whose entrance into politics was just as sudden and surprising as the ending of the war in which he played a significant role.
Anuradha K. Herath: Sri Lanka's Opposition Party Crumbles in Public 2010
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Mostly we aspire to write, and reaching toward something mysterious and elusive is where the work actually lives.
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Wickremesinghe was willing to forgo his long-term elusive presidential aspirations to former army commander Sarath Fonseka, whose entrance into politics was just as sudden and surprising as the ending of the war in which he played a significant role.
Anuradha K. Herath: Sri Lanka's Opposition Party Crumbles in Public Anuradha K. Herath 2010
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Wickremesinghe was willing to forgo his long-term elusive presidential aspirations to former army commander Sarath Fonseka, whose entrance into politics was just as sudden and surprising as the ending of the war in which he played a significant role.
Anuradha K. Herath: Sri Lanka's Opposition Party Crumbles in Public 2010
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Mostly we aspire to write, and reaching toward something mysterious and elusive is where the work actually lives.
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Beckjord's letter, Bigfoot, elusive, is still here touched on the non-flesh and blood mindset within some Bigfooters.
Archive 2007-07-01 2007
Kristianto2010 commented on the word elusive
Wars continue to ravage innocent lives, domestic violence is a growing calamity, divorce rates soar, churches split, and peace in our restless and wayward hearts seems to be an elusive dream.
December 24, 2010
dailyword commented on the word elusive
Obi-Wan used this word when he had a bad feeling about something.
June 19, 2012