Daily Word Box

Word

elude

verb C1

Meanings

verb

to avoid being caught or found by someone

Visual cue for elude — meaning 1
verb

to be difficult to understand, remember, or achieve

Visual cue for elude — meaning 2

Definition

To elude someone is to avoid being caught or understood.

To elude means to escape from someone who is trying to catch you or find you. It can also mean to be difficult to understand, remember, or achieve. Learners often meet it in news stories about criminals and in phrases about ideas or answers that are hard to grasp.

Examples

  • The suspect managed to elude the police for weeks.
  • I know the answer, but the exact word keeps trying to elude me.
  • The meaning of the poem continued to elude the class.
  • She eluded her pursuers by taking a back street.
  • A clear explanation seemed to elude him during the interview.