ELUSIVE Synonyms

• difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze

• able to make fine distinctions

• working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way

• not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure

• hard to control

• tending to vanish like vapor

• deliberately vague or ambiguous

• avoiding or escaping from difficulty or danger especially enemy fire

• lasting for a markedly brief time

• someone who flees from an uncongenial situation

• someone who is sought by law officers; someone trying to elude justice

• lasting for a markedly brief time

• not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure

• dispassionate

• resisting weight or pressure

• produced without vibration of the vocal cords

• (of light) transmitted directly from a pointed light source

• (of speech sounds); produced with the back of the tongue raised toward or touching the velum

• with effort or force or vigor

• with firmness

• earnestly or intently

• causing great damage or hardship

• slowly and with difficulty

• indulging excessively

• into a solid condition

• very near or close in space or time

• with pain or distress or bitterness

• to the full extent possible; all the way

• very strong or vigorous

• characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort

• given to excessive indulgence of bodily appetites especially for intoxicating liquors

• being distilled rather than fermented; having a high alcoholic content

• unfortunate or hard to bear

• dried out

• not capable of being precisely or readily described; not easily put into words

• defying expression or description

• defying expression or description

• (of especially business assets) not having physical substance or intrinsic productive value

• incapable of being perceived by the senses especially the sense of touch

• assets that are saleable though not material or physical

• hard to pin down or identify

• lacking substance or reality; incapable of being touched or seen

• of an obscure nature

• having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding

• not clearly expressed or understood

• marked by difficulty of style or expression

• difficult to find

• not famous or acclaimed

• not drawing attention

• remote and separate physically or socially

• make less visible or unclear

• make unclear, indistinct, or blurred

• make unintelligible or unclear

• reduce a vowel to a neutral one, such as a schwa

• make undecipherable or imperceptible by obscuring or concealing

• deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand

• only a very short time before

• almost not

• lacking self-confidence

• a quick throw

• short

• wary and distrustful; disposed to avoid persons or things

• start suddenly, as from fright

• throw quickly

• causing or tending to cause things to slip or slide

• not to be trusted

• making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe

• making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe

• used of old persons or old trees; covered with knobs or knots

• highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious

• tangled in knots or snarls

• open to doubt or debate

• making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe

• open to doubt or debate

• making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe

• not given to gentleness or sentimentality

• physically toughened

• resistant to cutting or chewing

• someone who learned to fight in the streets rather than being formally trained in the sport of boxing

• an aggressive and violent young criminal

• a cruel and brutal fellow

• very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution

• substantially made or constructed

• violent and lawless

• feeling physical discomfort or pain (`tough' is occasionally used colloquially for `bad')

• unfortunate or hard to bear

• making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe