Library / English Dictionary

ELUDE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)

Example:

he evaded the questions skillfully

Synonyms:

circumvent; dodge; duck; elude; evade; fudge; hedge; parry; put off; sidestep; skirt

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "elude" is one way to...):

avoid (stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "elude"):

beg (dodge, avoid answering, or take for granted)

quibble (evade the truth of a point or question by raising irrelevant objections)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Escape, either physically or mentally

Example:

The event evades explanation

Synonyms:

bilk; elude; evade

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "elude" is one way to...):

break loose; escape; get away (run away from confinement)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

eluding; elusion (the act of avoiding capture (especially by cunning))

elusive (skillful at eluding capture)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by

Example:

What you are seeing in him eludes me

Synonyms:

elude; escape

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "elude" is one way to...):

amaze; baffle; beat; bewilder; dumbfound; flummox; get; gravel; mystify; nonplus; perplex; pose; puzzle; stick; stupefy; vex (be a mystery or bewildering to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "elude"):

defy; refuse; resist (elude, especially in a baffling way)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to elude Sue

Derivation:

elusive (difficult to describe)

elusive (difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze)

Credits

 Context examples: 

He coughed to that extent, and his breath eluded all his attempts to recover it with that obstinacy, that I fully expected to see his head go down behind the counter, and his little black breeches, with the rusty little bunches of ribbons at the knees, come quivering up in a last ineffectual struggle.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

His majesty, in another audience, was at the pains to recapitulate the sum of all I had spoken; compared the questions he made with the answers I had given; then taking me into his hands, and stroking me gently, delivered himself in these words, which I shall never forget, nor the manner he spoke them in: My little friend Grildrig, you have made a most admirable panegyric upon your country; you have clearly proved, that ignorance, idleness, and vice, are the proper ingredients for qualifying a legislator; that laws are best explained, interpreted, and applied, by those whose interest and abilities lie in perverting, confounding, and eluding them.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

They attacked him in various ways—with barefaced questions, ingenious suppositions, and distant surmises; but he eluded the skill of them all, and they were at last obliged to accept the second-hand intelligence of their neighbour, Lady Lucas.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

He easily eluded me and said, Be calm!

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Ducking, turning, doubling, he slid about the deck, eluding the other's efforts to capture him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Hand-clapping and roars of laughter from the hunters greeted the exploit, while Mugridge, eluding half of his pursuers at the foremast, ran aft and through the remainder like a runner on the football field.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Of yourself you could come with soft flight and nestle against my heart, if you would: seized against your will, you will elude the grasp like an essence—you will vanish ere I inhale your fragrance.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He had eluded pursuit, and was going to America in a flaxen wig, and whiskers, and such a complete disguise as never you see in all your born days; when the little woman, being in Southampton, met him walking along the street—picked him out with her sharp eye in a moment—ran betwixt his legs to upset him—and held on to him like grim Death.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Yet thus much I may be allowed to say in my own vindication, that I artfully eluded many of his questions, and gave to every point a more favourable turn, by many degrees, than the strictness of truth would allow.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I rushed towards the window, and drawing a pistol from my bosom, fired; but he eluded me, leaped from his station, and running with the swiftness of lightning, plunged into the lake.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)