allusive

A1L1L1U1S1I1V4E1
UK/əˈluː.sɪv/UK/əˈljuː.sɪv/

adjective

that contains or makes use of allusions (indirect references or hints)

UncommonScrabble 11

Meanings

adjectiveallusive (comparative more allusive, superlative most allusive)

comparative more allusive · superlative most allusive

  1. that contains or makes use of allusions (indirect references or hints)

    The footnotes ensure that the lines become more allusive and more polysemantic, vacillating between transubstantiation and ghostly intimations.

    2010, James Matthews, “Late Modernism and the Marketplace”, in Edwina Keown, Carol Taaffe, editors, Irish Modernism, page 172
    3 more examples

    English poetry is compelled by the stubbornness of the language continually to renounce the too obviously poetic: but in seeking to be more precise, more dense and more allusive, Russian poetry has never had to give up the straightforward traditional intoxications of sound and rhyme.

    1984, John Bayley, Two pieces on translating Mandelstam: Selected Essays, page 149

    2013, Nick Nicholas, George Baloglou (translators and editors), Introduction, Unknown author, An Entertaining Tale of Quadrupeds, [14th c, Παιδιόφραστος διήγησις τῶν ζῴων τῶν τετραπόδων], page 87, The Book is a more allusive work than the Tale, which leads to speculation on whether the digressions in both works might not merely be a case of a rambling narrator.

    Around they go, taking in the poem's allusive system of images and its narrative density, the emotional heat of its subject matter, its increasing cultural salience re: women, re: trauma, re: bodies, re: life at the end of the world.

    2023, Brandon Taylor, chapter 1, in The Late Americans, pages 1-2

    Synonyms: suggestive

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivethat contains or makes use of allusions (indirect references or hints)

Similar

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivecharacterized by indirect references

Similar
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinallūs-
  2. Englishallusive

From Latin allūs-, past participle stem of allūdere (“to joke, jest”; see allude) + -ive. See also al-.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian намекващ, загатващ
  • намекващ (namekvašt)containing or making use of allusions
  • загатващ (zagatvašt)containing or making use of allusions
Catalan al·lusiu
  • al·lusiucontaining or making use of allusions
Chinese Cantonese 暗指嘅
  • 暗指嘅 (am³ zi² ge³)containing or making use of allusions
Czech plný narážek
  • plný narážekcontaining or making use of allusions
Dutch zinspelend
  • zinspelendcontaining or making use of allusions
Finnish vihjaileva
  • vihjailevacontaining or making use of allusions
French allusif
  • allusifcontaining or making use of allusions
Irish tagrach
  • tagrachcontaining or making use of allusions
Italian allusivo
  • allusivocontaining or making use of allusions
Polish aluzyjny
  • aluzyjnycontaining or making use of allusions
Portuguese alusivo
  • alusivocontaining or making use of allusions
Romanian aluziv
  • aluzivcontaining or making use of allusions
Spanish alusivo
  • alusivocontaining or making use of allusions

Rhymes & wordplay

Sounds the same

Cite this entry
APA

allusive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/allusive

MLA

“allusive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/allusive. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “allusive,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/allusive.

Source: allusive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.