allude
Americanverb (used without object)
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alludes,
present (3rd person singular)
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alluded,
past participle, past
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alluding
present participle
-
to refer casually or indirectly; make an allusion (usually followed byto ).
He often alluded to his poverty.
-
to contain a casual or indirect reference (usually followed byto ).
The letter alludes to something now forgotten.
verb
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to refer indirectly, briefly, or implicitly
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(loosely) to mention
Commonly Confused
See elude
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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alludesimple
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alludessimple
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have alludedperfect
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has alludedperfect
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am alludingprogressive
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are alludingprogressive
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is alludingprogressive
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have been alludingperfect progressive
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has been alludingperfect progressive
Past
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alludedsimple
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had alludedperfect
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was alludingprogressive
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were alludingprogressive
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had been alludingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of allude
First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin allūdere “to play beside, make a playful allusion to,” equivalent to al- al- + lūdere “to play”
Explanation
When you allude to something, you don't identify it or mention it specifically. If you allude to the fact that a cop is sitting right behind you, your friends might stop talking about their plans to rob a bank. Allude is from Latin allūdere "to play with, joke" from the prefix ad- "toward" plus lūdere "to play." The corresponding noun is allusion, which is often used of an indirect reference in literature: Helen, a fitting name for a woman of great beauty, is an allusion to Helen of Troy.
Vocabulary lists containing allude
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 1
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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The ACT: The Language of the Test, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Only once during the call, by my reckoning, did Joyner allude to the real reason for the split.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
The statement appears to allude to a number of high-profile dossiers handled by Khan.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
“Mine,” in this sense, doesn’t simply allude to something Corvette will steal; she’s referring to all the invisible things that comprise a mass-produced product — the labor and energy and time.
From Salon ● May 22, 2026
To allude to Frank Sinatra, you did it your way.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
Just every now and then, Ruth would allude to it.
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
Hamilton's answer alludes to his current contract, which it is believed lasts until the end of 2027.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026
That heartless sea alludes to both a disturbing woman in his past and hard times when young, watching “the locust feed / Like tractor wrecks and cabbages rotting in a field.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
Iñárritu portrays the average person as a seal, ready to bark and clap at anything that so much as alludes to reality.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
On TikTok and Instagram, a person's "aura" alludes to their style or attitude, with "100% aura" high praise for the most effortlessly cool persona.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
Catullus tells several of the stories, and Horace alludes to them often, but neither is important for mythology.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Taylor, while not specifically confirming or denying the allegations, alluded to “youthful indiscretions” from his past that he’s worked through with his wife.
From Slate ● Oct. 31, 2026
Ramaswamy has recently alluded to some of this history in trying to explain his decision to run the ad with Acton’s mother.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
As Iraola alluded to after, perhaps one of his players should have had the know how to commit a foul in that situation but Liverpool were punished again.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
He alluded to rivals Anthropic and OpenAI, who have called for tighter controls on the technology.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Cyril suspected that the discussion of bad taste alluded to his loud pants.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
And the modern compulsion to text cheeky little jokes alluding to the scheme, once again, claims new victims.
From Slate ● Oct. 31, 2026
The documents contained upsetting information alluding to the reason she was taken into care, alongside court records and a personal letter from her social worker.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Metaphorically alluding to the satirical newspaper “The Onion,” the narrator says that to pull off this operation, the team had to stick together like layers of an onion: “Never forget, onion is strength.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
"It will be Africa's second world war," he said, alluding to the 1998-2003 Congo war that involved nine African nations.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
She fed me without alluding to my poverty, and from then on I continued to visit her.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
