Elusive
[ɪ'l(j)uːsɪv] or [ɪ'lusɪv]
Definition
(adj.) skillful at eluding capture; 'a cabal of conspirators, each more elusive than the archterrorist'- David Kline .
(adj.) difficult to describe; 'a haunting elusive odor' .
(adj.) difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze; 'his whole attitude had undergone a subtle change'; 'a subtle difference'; 'that elusive thing the soul' .
Editor: Olaf--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Tending to elude; using arts or deception to escape; adroitly escaping or evading; eluding the grasp; fallacious.
Inputed by Kelly
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Evasive, ELUSORY.[2]. Equivocating, shuffling, equivocatory.
Typed by Kevin
Examples
- I might almost say heart-breaking, too, for of all the elusive, disappointing things one ever hunted for that was the worst. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- When Woola had finished his meal I again took up my weary and seemingly endless wandering in quest of the elusive waterway. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- The water was still booming in the night, the moon was fair, the hills beyond were elusive. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- At once powerful and elusive, it remained for Professor Morse to capture this wild steed, and, taming it, place it in the permanent service of man. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- This philosophy is not only difficult to practice: it is elusive when you come to state it. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
Typed by Kevin