Link Centre Dictionary

elude

UK/ɪˈljuːd/ US/ɪˈlʉwd/ uncommon

verb

1.

escape, either physically or mentally

  • “The thief eluded the police”
  • “This difficult idea seems to evade her”
  • “The event evades explanation”
Synonyms
2.

be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by

  • “What you are seeing in him eludes me”
Synonyms
3.

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

  • “He dodged the issue”
  • “she skirted the problem”
  • “They tend to evade their responsibilities”
  • “he evaded the questions skillfully”
Synonyms

Origin

From Latin ēlūdō (“to evade, elude”), from ē- (“out of”, short form of ex-) + lūdō (“to play; to trick”).

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.