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Use elusive in a sentence

Elusive Definition

difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze.

Sentence Examples

It is too subtle and too elusive to be judged by external appearances.

It is an elusive and difficult question.

Temperament in the raw is a highly elusive thing.

Its upper surface gleamed with elusive prismatic colors.

In a flash the elusive bit of memory came back to him.

There was an elusive green tinge to the light that poured in through the one window.

Like all human institutions, speech is too variable and too elusive to be quite safely ticketed.

Future pleasures and pains, even of one's own, are among the things most elusive of calculation.

No language wholly fails to distinguish noun and verb, though in particular cases the nature of the distinction may be an elusive one.

The ultimate goal of building a machine capable of competing with a human translator remains elusive due to the slow progress of the research.

A vague thought, as elusive as the smell of a primrose

Its charm was too enigmatical and elusive for definition.

The rocks made elusive shadows—shadows that danced, receded, grew and shortened by turn, until he couldn't discriminate between shadow and rock.

His only diversion was fishing for the elusive rainbow trout.

They faded into the landscape like an elusive puzzle picture.

These elusive mites continually utter a sharp chick-chick-chick.

Attitudes of mind are as elusive as the play of light on running water.

His draw had been so swift that nobody had caught the elusive movement.

With a fine old building, there is that elusive something called charm.

Dan waited a few minutes longer, thinking he might again glimpse the elusive figure.

The smell of sage filled the air, and some sweet elusive odor Crag couldn't identify.

Such rare and rewarding moments of mutual presence remind us of the elusive ever-present "between."

Even so sturdy an historian as Professor Channing calls him the most elusive of historic personages.

It aroused some elusive connection in his brain with a piece of information he had nearly forgotten.

The reconciliation of an obligatory central plan with enterprise autonomy has thus far proved elusive.

I had walked my legs off trying to track down the elusive Mister Hunter and discovered exactly—nothing.


Evidently he had been forced to feed himself on the small and elusive native animals which he could run down.

It was an indescribable sound, too elusive for identification; and Chet, in the next instant, could not be sure of its reality.

The combination of black money, shoddy financial controls, shady bank accounts and shredded documents proves to be quite elusive.

Unlike other creative artists, he must work through and with his own body, voice, emotions, appearance, and his own elusive personal quality….

Although they (frogs) were not swift, they were elusive because of their sudden changes of direction and the ease with which they found shelter.

His eyes were ablaze with passion, purposeful, masterful; and in her eyes he again glimpsed the fresh-awakened woman, beckoning, elusive, fearful.

He pursues the elusive insect in much the same way as a wagtail does, calling his wings to his assistance when chasing a particularly nimble creature.

An idea is an expression of life, and shares with life that transitive and elusive nature which defies definition by mere enumeration of its materials.

All observers seem to agree that it (Colima warbler) is not a shy bird, although in its preferred cover, the female seems elusive and nests are difficult to find.

Moreover, there was an elusive aroma from the candles, often made from the wax of berries, taken from the prolific growth of myrtle bushes about the Virginia waterways.

Most of the insects preyed upon are slower and less elusive than dragonflies, which are largely immune to the attacks of flying predators because of their great prowess in flight.

The archival and manuscript collections of research libraries, museums, state archives, and historical societies contain essential primary resources, but information about their contents has often been elusive.

Certainly humor is a singularly elusive thing, and I doubt if anyone alive can explain it; but its elusiveness gives it something of its charm; and, moreover, the illustrations which are necessary to an inquiry into its nature, its scope and meaning, are apt to be amusing without being irrelevant.

Touched with a bewildering and elusive beauty

As fleeting and elusive as our dreams

A very elusive and delicate thought