elusive
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- difficult to catch, shifty, slippery, tricky
- indefinable, fleeting, intangible, subtle, transient, transitory

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Related Words: evanescent, fleeting, fugitive, baffling, imponderable, incomprehensible, mysterious, insubstantial, phantom

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

e‧lu‧sive /ɪˈluːsɪv/ adjective

1. an elusive person or animal is difficult to find or not often seen:
She managed to get an interview with that elusive man.

2. an elusive result is difficult to achieve:
She enjoys a firm reputation in this country but wider international success has been elusive.

3. an elusive idea or quality is difficult to describe or understand:
For me, the poem has an elusive quality.
—elusively adverb
—elusiveness noun [uncountable]

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

elusive
adj.
VERBS be, prove Further movie roles have proved somewhat elusive for the young actor.
become | remain
ADV. extremely, very | rather, somewhat | strangely Sleep was strangely elusive.
notoriously Truth is a notoriously elusive quality.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲