elusive Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite difficult to describe
    • a haunting elusive odor
  2. adjective satellite skillful at eluding capture
    • a cabal of conspirators, each more elusive than the archterrorist"- David Kline
  3. adjective satellite difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
    subtle.
    • his whole attitude had undergone a subtle change
    • a subtle difference
    • that elusive thing the soul
  4. adjective satellite making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe
    tough; problematic; baffling; problematical; knotty.
    • a baffling problem
    • I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast
    • a problematic situation at home

WordNet

E*lu"sive adjective
Definitions
  1. Tending to elude; using arts or deception to escape; adroitly escaping or evading; eluding the grasp; fallacious.
    Elusive of the bridal day, she gives Fond hopes to all, and all with hopes deceives. Pope.
    -- E*lu"sive*ly, adv. -- E*lu"sive*ness, n.

Webster 1913