illusive
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- illusively adverb
- illusiveness noun
- nonillusive adjective
- nonillusively adverb
- nonillusiveness noun
- unillusive adjective
Etymology
Origin of illusive
First recorded in 1670–80; illus(ory) + -ive
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.
These intersecting stories mostly take place over Feb. 29, a fittingly illusive day.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
From BBC
“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.”
From Washington Post
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.
From Seattle Times
Officials, lawmakers and victims groups have grown frustrated that an explanation remains illusive.
From New York Times
Definitions 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.
