elude Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb escape, either physically or mentally
    bilk; evade.
    • The thief eluded the police
    • This difficult idea seems to evade her
    • The event evades explanation
  2. verb be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by
    escape.
    • What you are seeing in him eludes me
  3. verb avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)
    dodge; fudge; sidestep; evade; parry; skirt; duck; hedge; circumvent; put off.
    • He dodged the issue
    • she skirted the problem
    • They tend to evade their responsibilities
    • he evaded the questions skillfully

WordNet

E*lude" transitive verb
Etymology
L. eludere, elusum; e + ludere to play: cf. F. éluder. See Ludicrous.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Eluded; present participle & verbal noun Eluding
Definitions
  1. To avoid slyly, by artifice, stratagem, or dexterity; to escape from in a covert manner; to mock by an unexpected escape; to baffle; as, to elude an officer; to elude detection, inquiry, search, comprehension; to elude the force of an argument or a blow.
    Me gentle Delia beckons from the plain, Then, hid in shades, eludes he eager swain. Pope.
    The transition from fetichism to polytheism seems a gradual process of which the stages elude close definition. Tylor.
    Syn. -- To evade; avoid; escape; shun; eschew; flee; mock; baffle; frustrate; foil.

Webster 1913