elude

elude

See also: éludé and élude

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈluːd/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Verb

elude (third-person singular simple present eludes, present participle eluding, simple past and past participle eluded)

1. (transitive) To evade or escape from (someone or something), especially by using cunning or skill.
   • 1748. David Hume. Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. § 26.

     Thus the observation of human blindness and weakness is the result of all philosophy, and meets us at every turn, in spite of our endeavours to elude or avoid it.

   • 2021 May 29, Phil McNulty, “Manchester City 0-1 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport‎:

     It leaves City still searching for the Champions League, the trophy that has always eluded them

2. (transitive) To shake off (a pursuer); to give someone the slip.
   • 2012 December 29, Paul Doyle, “Arsenal's Theo Walcott hits hat-trick in thrilling victory over Newcastle”, in The Guardian‎:

     Podolski gave Walcott a chance to further embellish Arsenal's first-half performance when he eluded James Perch and slipped the ball through to the striker.

3. (transitive) To escape being understandable to; to be incomprehensible to.

   I get algebra, but calculus eludes me.

4. (transitive) To escape someone's memory, to slip someone's mind.

   The solution of that brainteaser eludes me and the name of the author eludes my memory too.

Related terms

• allude
• deflect
• delude
• illude

 

Translations

to evade, or escape from someone or something

Armenian: please add this translation if you can Basque: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: избягвам (bg) (izbjagvam), отбягвам (bg) (otbjagvam) Catalan: eludir (ca) Czech: vyhýbat se (cs) impf, unikat (cs) impf Esperanto: please add this translation if you can French: éluder (fr) Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: sich entziehen (de), entgehen (de), entkommen (de), umgehen (de), aus dem Weg gehen Khmer: គេច (km) (kɨc) Latin: ēlūdō Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Persian: اجتناب کردن‎ (fa), تفره رفتن‎ Portuguese: escapar (pt) Romanian: eluda (ro) Russian: ускользать (ru) impf (uskolʹzatʹ) Spanish: eludir (es) Thai: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: вислизати impf (vyslyzaty) Vietnamese: trốn chạy khỏi, né tránh (vi)

to shake off a pursuer

Czech: uniknout (cs) pf German: abschütteln, sich absetzen von (de), sich entziehen (de), entkommen (de), entgehen (de)

to escape understanding of; to be incomprehensible to

Czech: vymykat se impf (chápání) German: sich jmds. Verständnis entziehen Russian: ускользать (ru) impf (uskolʹzatʹ)

to escape so.'s memory

German: nicht einfallen, entfallen sein

Anagrams

• Deuel

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Estonian

Noun

elude

1. genitive plural of elu

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eˈlu.de/
• Rhymes: -ude
• Hyphenation: e‧lù‧de

Verb

elude

1. third-person singular present indicative of eludere

Anagrams

• edule

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Latin

Verb

ēlūde

1. second-person singular present active imperative of ēlūdō

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Portuguese

Verb

elude

1. inflection of eludir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eˈlude/ [eˈlu.ð̞e]
• Rhymes: -ude
• Syllabification: e‧lu‧de

Verb

elude

1. inflection of eludir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative