illusive

[ih-loo-siv]

adjective

1. illusory.

Other Word Forms

• illusively adverb
• illusiveness noun
• nonillusive adjective
• nonillusively adverb
• nonillusiveness noun
• unillusive adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of illusive¹

First recorded in 1670–80; illus(ory) + -ive

Example Sentences

These intersecting stories mostly take place over Feb. 29, a fittingly illusive day.

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The Americans are not naive about the chances of achieving the most illusive of goals in the Middle East, amid some of the worst bloodshed in the region's modern history.

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Misdirected faith and beliefs can be illusive and sometimes dangerous.

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“Seldom has the bleakness and despair of American college life been portrayed with such immediacy and truth — the paranoia, the Sisyphean striving, the illusive goals, the strange symbiosis that springs up between student and professor.”

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She had also charged Salameh’s brother, Raja, for being involved in the formation of three illusive companies in France alongside Ukrainian citizen Anna Kosakova to purchase real estate worth nearly $12 million there.

Read more on Seattle Times