elude

[ih-lood]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR elude ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), e·lud·ed, e·lud·ing.

to avoid or escape by speed, cleverness, trickery, etc.; evade: to elude capture.

to escape the understanding, perception, or appreciation of: The answer eludes me.

Origin of elude

1530–40; < Latin ēlūdere to deceive, evade, equivalent to ē- e-¹ + lūdere to play, deceive

Related formse·lud·er, nounun·e·lud·ed, adjective

Can be confusedallowed allude aloud elude

Synonym study

1. See escape.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for elude

dodge, confound, thwart, puzzle, outwit, evade, frustrate, baffle, foil, stall, stonewall, shun, flee, outrun, fly, shy, stump, double, duck, bilk

Examples from the Web for elude

Contemporary Examples of elude

Elsewhere, she tells her inamorata, “It does not matter if you elude my arms/my dear, when thought alone can imprison you.”
Sor Juana: Mexico’s Most Erotic Poet and Its Most Dangerous Nun
Katie Baker
November 8, 2014
Beautiful, daring and smart, Sophie managed to elude arrest on many occasions.
Meet 'The Queen of Thieves' Marm Mandelbaum, New York City's First Mob Boss
J. North Conway
September 7, 2014
But Shailene Woodley, both onscreen and off, seems to elude quick characterization.
Shailene Woodley Is Hollywood’s It Girl Next Door
Teo Bugbee
June 5, 2014
They would have assumed that they needed to get far out over an ocean to elude that.
Malaysia’s Sinister Timeline for Flight 370 Unravels
Clive Irving
March 18, 2014
They constantly move him from place to place, hoping to elude any U.S. efforts to find him, Hanif says.
U.S. Prisoner Bowe Bergdahl’s Failed Attempt to Escape From Taliban
Sami Yousafzai, Ron Moreau
December 7, 2011

Historical Examples of elude

That I could elude Rima's keener eyes I doubted; but that did not trouble me.
Green Mansions
W. H. Hudson
He knew her power; perhaps that was why his instinct had led him to elude it.
Cleo The Magnificent
Louis Zangwill
This was to elude a successful German envelopment on their Louvain right.
The Story of the Great War, Volume II (of VIII)
Various
The Baron was fixing his eyes on her and she tried to elude his gaze.
The Eternal City
Hall Caine
That it was so vague as to elude the support of argument made it only the stronger.
Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard
Joseph Conrad

British Dictionary definitions for elude

elude

verb (tr)

to escape or avoid (capture, one's pursuers, etc), esp by cunning

to avoid fulfilment of (a responsibility, obligation, etc); evade

to escape discovery, or understanding by; bafflethe solution eluded her

Derived Formseluder, nounelusion (ɪˈluːʒən), noun

Word Origin for elude

C16: from Latin ēlūdere to deceive, from lūdere to play

usage

Elude is sometimes wrongly used where allude is meant: he was alluding (not eluding ) to his previous visit to the city

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for elude

1530s, "delude, make a fool of," from Latin eludere "escape from, make a fool of, win from at play," from ex- "out, away" (see ex-) + ludere "to play" (see ludicrous). Sense of "evade" is first recorded 1610s in a figurative sense, 1630s in a literal one. Related: Eluded; eludes; eluding.