elusive
Things that are elusive are hard to find, pin down, or remember. They slip right out of your grasp.
Ever try to catch a mouse? It's not easy, because mice are quick and elusive — they're tough to catch. Rabbits are speedy, so they're elusive too. Also, things that are tough to understand or describe are elusive — like the concepts of love and beauty. If you had an idea and then forgot it, the idea is elusive: it slipped away. Anything you can't get hold of, with your hands or with your brain, is elusive.
Definitions of elusive
-
skillful at eluding capture“"a cabal of conspirators, each more elusive than the archterrorist"- David Kline”
-
Synonyms:
-
artful
marked by skill in achieving a desired end especially with cunning or craft
-
artful
-
difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
-
difficult to describe“a haunting elusive odor”
-
Synonyms:
-
unidentifiable
impossible to identify
-
unidentifiable
-
making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe
-
synonyms:
baffling, knotty, problematic, problematical, tough
Commonly confused words
elusive / illusive
An elusive fairy is one you can't catch, but an illusive one was never really there at all. It was just an illusion!
Word Family
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Look up elusive for the last time
Close your vocabulary gaps with personalized learning that focuses on teaching the words you need to know.
