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elusiveness

elusiveness

3 7.4
Hard to find or understand
  • noun
  • /ɪˈluːsɪvnəs/
translation icon : elusividad
  • Randomness, elusiveness, and impermanence announced themselves as essential truths; my quest would have to be for understanding, not order.

Examples

  • There's nothing more beautiful than elusiveness in cinema.

    Blog text (20)
  • Over the last century, no one has thought more about the promise of democracy in their country or been more dismayed by its elusiveness than the Chinese themselves.

    Academic text (2008)
  • Part of it is his quick release coupled with his elusiveness.

    Blog text (4)
  • Her elusiveness added to the range of her attractiveness.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • The very elusiveness of history prevents its erasure.

    Academic text (1995)
  • The new star of the Niners has pocket presence, the speed, the elusiveness, and the strength to succeed at his game.

    Blog text (5)
  • Mansfield's elusiveness is the second obstacle to understanding.

    Academic text (2002)
  • For Tocqueville himself, however, the strange quest of Pascal is at the center of the truth about the elusiveness of human liberty.

    Academic text (2001)
  • The very elusiveness of any convincing cause-and-effect pattern becomes, paradoxically, evidence of a special destiny.

    Academic text (1996)
  • The detective struggled with the elusiveness of the suspect, who seemed to vanish into thin air after each crime.

Synonyms

mystery
vselusiveness
660 4.7

Something that is hard to understand or explain

is wider, including trouble finding or catching as well as explaining
obscurity
vselusiveness
5 7.4

Hard to understand or see, making people feel confused

adds a sense of being hard to find or understand, not only unclear
inaccessibility
vselusiveness
2 8.3

A state when people cannot reach or get something easily

is broader, adding difficulty of understanding or defining as well
inscrutability
vselusiveness
1 9.9

A quality that you cannot understand or know the reasons for

is about being hard to find, catch, or grasp rather than wholly impossible
incomprehensibility
vselusiveness
1 9.9

A state where something is very hard to understand

covers both not being found and being hard to understand, not only impossibility
unknowability
vselusiveness
1 9.9

A quality that makes facts and events impossible to find out or fully understand

is broader, also including difficulty in catching or noticing
mysteriousness
vselusiveness
1 5.2

A quality of being hard to understand and making people curious

is more neutral and includes practical difficulty in finding or catching
inexplicability
vselusiveness
1 9.8

A state when something cannot be explained or understood

adds the idea of being hard to find or catch as well as hard to explain
abstruseness
vselusiveness
  • Formal
1 9.9

Difficulty understanding something because it is complex or unclear

includes complexity but also the idea of being hard to catch or locate
hiddenness
vselusiveness
1 7.8

A state in which something is out of sight and hard to notice or understand

is broader, including both concealment and difficulty of understanding
unfathomable mystery
vselusiveness
8.9

A thing that people cannot understand or explain

includes both being hard to understand and being hard to locate or define
indefinability
vselusiveness
9.9

A state where you cannot describe something exactly

is similar but also stresses difficulty in finding or catching
indescribability
vselusiveness
9.8

Something you cannot say in words

focuses more widely on being hard to find, catch, or understand
indescribableness
vselusiveness
9.9

A state that is impossible or very hard to describe in words

adds the sense of being hard to locate or identify as well
opaqueness
vselusiveness
  • Formal
8.7

How hard it is to understand something because its meaning is unclear

is broader, covering both obscurity of meaning and being hard to find
reconditeness
vselusiveness
  • Formal
9.9

Difficulty understanding something because it is very complex

is similar but also covers being hard to notice or capture physically
abstrusity
vselusiveness
  • Formal
9.9

The quality of being very difficult to understand because it is complex

adds the extra sense of being hard to find or define beyond complexity
enigmaticness
vselusiveness
9.2

A state of being mysterious and hard to understand

is broader, also meaning hard to locate, catch, or pin down
crypticness
vselusiveness
8.9

A quality of being mysterious and hard to understand

is less about secrecy and more about being hard to find or define
obscureness
vselusiveness
8.9

State of being hard to understand

also covers the idea of avoiding being found or caught
unnoticeableness
vselusiveness
8.4

A state of not being seen or heard by other people

is wider, also including mental difficulty in understanding or defining
impenetrability
vselusiveness
9.9

Very hard to understand because the ideas are unclear or complicated

is broader, covering both mental difficulty and physical hard-to-find quality
impalpability
vselusiveness
9.9

You cannot easily understand or picture it in your mind

adds that the difficulty can also be about finding or catching
ineffability
vselusiveness
9.9

A state of being impossible to fully describe in words

is wider, including practical difficulty in locating or defining things

Antonyms

152 3.0

How easy it is to understand what someone says or writes

How Elusive

elusiveness
3 7.4
evasiveness
3 7.4
mystery
660 4.7
obscurity
5 7.4
vagueness
8 6.1

Surface Forms

elusiveness singular
elusivenesses plural

Morphology

elusiveness = elusive (transparent) = elude + ive + ness

The noun is a regular formation from the adjective 'elusive' (elusive + -ness), and the adjective itself is transparently related to the verb 'elude'.

Etymology

Elusiveness comes from the verb elude, which comes from old Latin parts e- meaning 'out' and ludere meaning 'to play'. A helpful image is something that 'plays out' of your hands and slips away, so elusiveness means being hard to catch, find, or understand.