Synonyms of elusive

elusive

adjective

ē-ˈlü-siv 

as in slippery

hard to find, capture, or isolate

the giant squid is one of the ocean's most elusive inhabitants

Synonyms & Similar Words

• slippery
• transient
• evasive
• fleeting
• inaccessible
• temporary
• passing
• fugitive
• ephemeral
• unavailable
• evanescent
• unobtainable
• transitory
• shifty
• cagy
• unreachable
• momentary
• unattainable
• unapproachable
• untouchable
• cagey
• short-lived
• inconvenient
• impermanent

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• available
• convenient
• attainable
• obtainable
• accessible
• reachable
• approachable

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of elusive

The elusive pop music singer/songwriter, whose full name is Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, has filed for divorce from her husband Daniel Bernad. —Karu F. Daniels, New York Daily News, 20 Mar. 2025

Silk Coat This baby blue silk coat hails from Balenciaga’s elusive Le Dix line—a diffusion label from the late 1970s to early ’90s that broadened the house’s reach beyond its Paris atelier. —Lilah Ramzi, Vogue, 18 Mar. 2025

These elusive hoofed mammals are widely considered to be calm and gentle, naturally inclined to run and hide when face-to-face with danger. —Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 17 Mar. 2025

What others might see as a kind of madness, true believers see as a quest for an elusive peace in the devotion to the vertical wall, the towering mountain, to the terrible, beautiful wild. —Maya Silver, Outside Online, 16 Mar. 2025