Meanings
comparative more elusive · superlative most elusive
- Evading capture, comprehension or remembrance.
The elusive criminal was arrested
1 more example
The temporary elusive goal / To reach the solace, to feed once more upon the synthetic reaper of loss / No matter the outcome, the cost
2002, Meshuggah, Closed Eye Visuals - Difficult to make precise.
A precise definition of diarrhea is elusive
2010, Robbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease1 more example
Charley chased the elusive idea through all the nooks and crannies of his drowning consciousness.
1910, Jack London, chapter 6, in Lost Face, archived from the original on 14 Apr 2011
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivedifficult to describe
adjectiveskillful at eluding capture
adjectivedifficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
adjectivemaking great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinelusus
- Englishelusive
From Latin elusus, past participle of eludo (“to parry a blow, to deceive”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic متملص, مراوغ
- متملص (mutamalliṣ)evading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- مراوغ (murāwiḡ)evading capture, comprehension or remembrance
Bulgarian неуловим, изплъзващ се
- неуловим (neulovim)evading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- изплъзващ се (izplăzvašt se)evading capture, comprehension or remembrance
Catalan elusiu
- elusiuevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
Chinese 难以描述的, 难以捉摸
- 难以描述的 (nányǐmiáoshùdē)difficult to describe
- 难以捉摸 (Nányǐzhuōmō)difficult to describe
- 难以琢磨 (Nányǐzhuómó)difficult to describe
Czech nepolapitelný
- nepolapitelnýevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
Dutch ongrijpbaar, moeilijk beschrijfbaar
- ongrijpbaarevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- moeilijk beschrijfbaardifficult to describe
Esperanto nekaptebla
- nekapteblaevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
Estonian puiklik, ebamäärane
- puiklikevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- ebamääranedifficult to describe
Finnish välttelevä, vaikeasti tavoiteltava
- vältteleväevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- vaikeasti tavoiteltavaevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- hämäräevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- vaikeasti kuvailtavadifficult to describe
- vaikea kuvailladifficult to describe
French évasif, insaisissable
- évasifevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- insaisissableevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- rareevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- ambigudifficult to describe
- obscurdifficult to describe
German flüchtig, schwer fassbar
- flüchtigevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- schwer fassbarevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- schwierigdifficult to describe
- schwer fassbardifficult to describe
- schwer zu beschreibendifficult to describe
Greek ασύλληπτος, φευγαλέος
- ασύλληπτος (asýlliptos)evading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- φευγαλέος (fevgaléos)evading capture, comprehension or remembrance
Hebrew חֲמַקְמָק
- חֲמַקְמָק (ẖamaqmáq)evading capture, comprehension or remembrance
Italian elusivo
- elusivoevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
Latin fugāx
- fugāxevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
Persian گریزان, فراری
- گریزانevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- فراریevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- مرموز (marmuz)evading capture, comprehension or remembrance
Polish nieuchwytny, nieuchwytny
- nieuchwytnyevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- nieuchwytnydifficult to describe
Portuguese elusivo, fugidio
- elusivoevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- fugidioevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- elusivodifficult to describe
Romanian evaziv
- evazivevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
Russian неуловимый, ускользающий
- неуловимый (neulovimyj)evading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- ускользающий (uskolʹzajuščij)evading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- труднодостижимый (trudnodostižimyj)difficult to describe
Spanish elusivo, huidizo
- elusivoevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- huidizoevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- escurridizoevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- esquivoevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- inaprensibleevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
- imprecisodifficult to describe
- inexactodifficult to describe
- indefinibledifficult to describe
- ambiguodifficult to describe
Swedish gäckande
- gäckandeevading capture, comprehension or remembrance
Vietnamese khó tả
- khó tảdifficult to describe
Rhymes & wordplay
Sounds the same
Cite this entry
elusive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elusive
“elusive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elusive. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “elusive,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elusive.
Source: elusive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.