Synonyms for elusive
ɪˈlu sɪv; -sə ri, -zə-elu·sive

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. elusiveadjective

   difficult to describe

   "a haunting elusive odor"

   Synonyms:
   tough, knotty, problematical, subtle, baffling, problematic

   Antonyms:
   palpable, easy, tangible, identifiable, artless

2. elusiveadjective

   skillful at eluding capture

   "a cabal of conspirators, each more elusive than the archterrorist"- David Kline

   Synonyms:
   tough, knotty, problematical, subtle, baffling, problematic

   Antonyms:
   palpable, artless, identifiable, tangible, easy

3. elusive, subtleadjective

   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"

   Synonyms:
   pernicious, baffling, problematic, knotty, tough, insidious, subtle, problematical

   Antonyms:
   easy, identifiable, artless, tangible, palpable

4. baffling, elusive, knotty, problematic, problematical, toughadjective

   making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe

   "a baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at home"

   Synonyms:
   subtle, gnarled, involved, knotty, problematical, debatable, ruffianly, bad, rugged, toughened, problematic, snarly, baffling, gnarly, hard, tangled, sturdy, knobbed, tough, knotted, tortuous, convoluted, snarled

   Antonyms:
   easy, palpable, tangible, identifiable, artless

Editors ContributionRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. escapability

   Submitted by rinat on August 15, 2019  

2. out of the grasp of

   happiness remains elusive until you look within.

   Submitted by dtravis on July 21, 2020  

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:5.0 / 2 votes

1. elusiveadjective

   Synonyms:
   evasive, ELUSORY

2. elusiveadjective

   Synonyms:
   equivocating, shuffling, equivocatory

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "elusive":

   unattainable, illusive, distant, evasive, unfulfilled, indomitable, sly, inaccessible, imprecise, illusory, unrealized, difficult

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How to use elusive in a sentence?

1. Sybil Adelman:

   Most of you have been where I am tonight. The crash site of unrequited love. You ask yourself, How did I get here What was it about Was it her smile Was it the way she crossed her legs, the turn of her ankle, the poignant vulnerability of her slender wrists What are these elusive and ephemeral things that ignite passion in the human heart That's an age-old question. It's perfect food for thought on a bright midsummer's night.

2. Tony Jones:

   Were all selfless, we all want the team to win. I think we both have similar types of games but show them in different ways. Hes elusive but hes also powerful. Im powerful but elusive.

3. Mahatma Gandhi:

   In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in an clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.

4. Costanza Argiroffi:

   Stellar coronal mass ejections have been very elusive, in the last few decades, there were a few claims of stellar coronal mass ejection detection, but all were rather uncertain.

5. The IEA:

   U.S. stocks may soon test storage capacity limits. That would inevitably lead to renewed price weakness, which in turn could trigger the supply cuts that have so far remained elusive, while the U.S. supply response to lower prices might take longer to kick in than expected, it might also prove more abrupt.