allusive vs elusive vs illusive :

allusive or elusive or illusive

When a lawyer alludes to his client’s poor mother, he is being allusive. When the mole keeps eluding the traps you’ve set in the garden, it’s being elusive. We also speak of matters that are difficult to understand, identify, or remember as elusive. Illusions can be illusive, but we more often refer to them as illusory.

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Definitions
  allusive
  • s  characterized by indirect references
    allusive speech is characterized by allusions
  elusive
  • s  difficult to describe
    a haunting elusive odor
  • s  skillful at eluding capture
    a cabal of conspirators, each more elusive than the archterrorist"- David Kline
  • s  difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
    that elusive thing the soul
  • s  making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe
  illusive
  • s  based on or having the nature of an illusion
    illusive hopes of finding a better job
News & Articles
  allusive
  • Review: Cognitive overload with Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley
    Made up to look like black and white drawings, the protagonists in Mary Reid Kelley’s videos speak in a constant, densely allusive patter. This approach worked swimmingly in her 2010 show at Susanne Vielmetter, which featured two videos that looked at the darker side of early modernism. The stark, stylized appearance of those works perfectly evoked stripped-down modern aesthetics.
    June 14, 2013 - Los Angeles Times
  • Review: Cognitive overload with Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley
    Made up to look like black and white drawings, the protagonists in Mary Reid Kelley’s videos speak in a constant, densely allusive patter. This approach worked swimmingly in her 2010 show at Susanne Vielmetter, which featured two videos that looked at the darker side of early modernism. The stark, stylized appearance of those works perfectly evoked stripped-down modern aesthetics.
    June 14, 2013 - Los Angeles Times
  elusive
  illusive
  • Power Ranking Minnesota Twins Starting Pitchers
    “See the ball, hit the ball.” It’s a pretty simple concept for the offensive side of the ball. The other side of the ball is all about the art of illusion. Frankly, the Minnesota Twins pitching staff hasn’t been very illusive in the past couple years. They are basically a bunch of magicians who outright tell you how their tricks, or illusions, work. It’s really kind of sad. The Twins have thrown ...
    June 12, 2013 - Bleacher Report
  • Power Ranking Minnesota Twins Starting Pitchers
    “See the ball, hit the ball.” It’s a pretty simple concept for the offensive side of the ball. The other side of the ball is all about the art of illusion. Frankly, the Minnesota Twins pitching staff hasn’t been very illusive in the past couple years. They are basically a bunch of magicians who outright tell you how their tricks, or illusions, work. It’s really kind of sad. The Twins have thrown ...
    June 12, 2013 - Bleacher Report