How To Use Elusive In A Sentence

  • Music is too elusive an art to be quantified in this way. Times, Sunday Times
  • Agreement about periodization, however, remains both fraught and elusive. The Times Literary Supplement
  • Wednesday's win was a pleasing, restorative result at a time when it was badly needed, but it would be delusive to read too much into it.
  • Yet the tigers of the Chitwan Valley can be elusive in the absence of propitiation by Tharu priests.
  • Therefore the learning of many languages is injudicious, inasmuch as it arouses the belief in the possession of dexterity, and, as a matter of fact, it lends a kind of delusive importance to social intercourse. Esperanto: Hearings before the Committee on Education
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  • Nor did we find our elusive wolf. Times, Sunday Times
  • I think he has something interesting to tell us about political alienation, but he is surprisingly elusive. Times, Sunday Times
  • Even they though are underplayed these days, as hockey seeks to woo that elusive grail - the family audience.
  • In the personal social services, needs are often elusive and intangible, and they are still very controversial. Introduction to Social Administration in Britain
  • He leaned against the wall desperately trying to clear his mind but the memory proved elusive.
  • Narration Bubble: The dopest graffiti gang in uptown Comet, The Raggs were as skilled as they were elusive. Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » (Updated) These six openings usually fail
  • Beckjord's letter, Bigfoot, elusive, is still here touched on the non-flesh and blood mindset within some Bigfooters. Archive 2007-07-01
  • The short pastry is good and the sauce emulsified, but filling is bland invalid food and the ham is elusive.
  • The song became an instant hit and proved to be the group's entry into the elusive U.S. market.
  • The elusive tan we crave to make us look healthy is actually the result of the appearance of damaged skin cells. Times, Sunday Times
  • The warmth displayed in the opening adagio was refreshing, but the constant flux in this elusive symphony needs to sound natural, inevitable. Times, Sunday Times
  • Poluski's quip; but that fleeting glimpse had thrilled her with subtle recognition of something grasped yet elusive, of a knowledge that trembled on the lip of discovery, like a half remembered word murmuring in the brain but unable to make itself heard. A Son of the Immortals
  • Nor is it motion that impels us toward the past in quest of the elusive origin "connate" with poetry. Shelley's Golden Wind: Zen Harmonics in _A Defence of Poetry_ and 'Ode to the WestWind'
  • Eleven years on and the hurried portraits of Dave, Nick and Mat will this week be put up for auction at a sale which will either bewilder people, or get them hunting through drawers for that elusive bit of paper from the time they got the artist to draw them a picture. Damien Hirst doodles put up for auction
  • Such scenes work on the level of stylization and pure martial arts action, and may be appreciated wholly out of context, but the essence of heroism remains elusive.
  • Thus we can have common-sense knowledge while not knowing that we are not having the delusive experience of a brain-in-a-vat.
  • There can be no war nowadays between civilized nations, nor any peace that is not hollow and delusive unless sustained and backed up by the sentiment of the people who are parties to it. 
  • Think how a real rockface looks, with little crevices in which even the elusive edelweiss might survive. Times, Sunday Times
  • Daguerreotypes have extreme depth and detail, together with an elusive, glittering, mirror-like quality that shifts between negative and positive images.
  • The book recounts Doonan's escape from Reading, accompanied by his best friend Biddie, in pursuit of the elusive beautiful people of London - and beyond. Life and style | guardian.co.uk
  • The warmth displayed in the opening adagio was refreshing, but the constant flux in this elusive symphony needs to sound natural, inevitable. Times, Sunday Times
  • Most other closely related wrasses utilize a combination of suction and biting to take less elusive invertebrate prey items.
  • If you're lucky, you can sight one of the smaller numbers of red-shoulder hawks, red-tail hawks and the elusive, endangered Peregrine Falcon.
  • A solution to the problem of toxic waste is proving elusive in the extreme.
  • There can be no war nowadays between civilized nations, nor any peace that is not hollow and delusive unless sustained and backed up by the sentiment of the people who are parties to it. 
  • Honest-to-goodness maraschino liqueur, by contrast, is subtle and elusive, and a sly way to add just a hint of sweetness to an otherwise unsugared drink. Hemingway's Daiquiri
  • In contrast to Keiley, whose directorial stamp is blazoned on her productions as plainly as a Nike logo, Irvine's effect is more elusive.
  • He was unlike other, bigger sluggers since he had more endurance and appeared to be more elusive.
  • I love my bow and there is nothing like hangin out in hayfield waiting for that elusive buck. Bow, rifle or black powder
  • Naturally, that persistent little squirrel is still driving himself nuts in pursuit of an elusive acorn.
  • She has the sort of elusive quality that fashion goes crazy for. Times, Sunday Times
  • To gaze at our elusive past can seem an insufficient contribution in such circumstances. The Past is Before Us - feminism in action since the 1960s
  • Yet somehow it has found the elusive magic formula. Times, Sunday Times
  • Police are now on the trail of the elusive Mr X, who they believe has just collected a large consignment of the drug.
  • If this week's world appears frustratingly elusive or evasive, you're not wrong.
  • He displayed that elusive, indefinable quality: he looked presidential.
  • The Secretary of State and his Russian counterpart met to try to nail down the elusive accord.
  • It is based on a true story, framed by an investigative journalist's interview with his elusive subject and told mostly in flashback.
  • There can be no war nowadays between civilized nations, nor any peace that is not hollow and delusive unless sustained and backed up by the sentiment of the people who are parties to it. 
  • Scientific truth is always paradox, if judged by everyday experience, which catches only the delusive nature of things.
  • While the excited and enthusiastic student is very reinforcing to the teacher, the exact ingredients of motivation continue to be highly elusive.
  • Basing her work on far-flung archives, Ms. Jasanoff takes us on a global voyage from North America to Europe, Africa and even India — and back again — as her subjects cross and recross the Atlantic in search of an elusive utopia. The Refugees Who Built an Empire
  • But he and his wife found something even more elusive: a palpable sense of the rakish adventurousness that prevailed between the world wars. The World on the Rocks
  • An expert warden will be on hand to help you find the elusive bittern and then it's back to the tearoom for a hearty bowl of soup.
  • As for Chelsea, Wise reckons they are inching ever closer to that elusive away victory.
  • His elusive palette of muddy plums, acidic yellows and sunrise oranges appears to have been influenced by his countryman Per Kirkeby, with whom he shares a wintry, dulled light.
  • Yesterday, you sensed he just wanted to protect his chance of winning that elusive first major. Times, Sunday Times
  • This is partly because many animals burrow in the ground or get in underneath things and into dark corners, being what is called cryptozoic or elusive. The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) A Plain Story Simply Told
  • Each sibling feels the need to break away - Emma to follow her new dream of being an archaeologist, Blue to track down his elusive and by now vagrant father, whom he finds squatting in an abandoned warehouse.
  • Predatory lending and high-interest financing targeting the military have been elusive problems for years. At Fort Sill, High-Interest Lenders Circle The Gates
  • The tusked narwhal, white beluga whales and elusive bowhead whale all live off the northern part of this island.
  • Both were mysterious, flirtatious and frustratingly elusive about their origins. Times, Sunday Times
  • A solution to the problem of toxic waste is proving elusive in the extreme.
  • He can be unpredictable, able to move swiftly round the ring and be elusive, but has the height and reach to stand and trade blows.
  • While Pottz tacked to and fro energetically seeking out the elusive peak, Richie dropped anchor and contemplated the horizon.
  • Inquiries made of the sellers and their forwarding agents after the event were unavailing because they were either elusive or unco-operative or both.
  • LHC is designed to search for the elusive Higgs boson and study new physics predicted to exist at the 1,000 gigaelectronvolt (GeV) scale (approximately 1,000 times larger than the mass of a proton). Dailyindia.com News Feed
  • So this formula, this test, to see whether or not you're compatible has been elusive so far.
  • While the quokkas remained elusive, the students caught a small marsupial which they did not recognise.
  • Morphology and 18S rRNA phylogeny suggest that the microaerophilic amoeboflagellate Psalteriomonas lanterna, which possesses hydrogenosomes and elusive "modified mitochondria", belongs to the heterolobosea, a taxon that consists predominantly of aerobic, mitochondriate organisms. BioMed Central - Latest articles
  • Smallest woodpecker (sparrow sized) and often elusive preferring the tops of trees.
  • Endangered species such as the wild dog, not sighted since 1996, has reappeared here, while Sariska is also home to the elusive caracal.
  • Further movie roles have proved somewhat elusive for the young actor.
  • Any definition of qualitative research would be elusive, vague, and imprecise.
  • I, however, choose not to be so elusive, and am more than willing to fill in the blank: the preservation rule does not apply if a portion of the defendant's factual allocution negates an essential element of the crime, casts significant doubt on his guilt, or otherwise calls into question the voluntariness of his plea. A Felony DWI May Not Serve as a Predicate Felony for Assault 2d
  • Perceptions can be delusive, especially when core beliefs are at stake.
  • There can be no war nowadays between civilized nations, nor any peace that is not hollow and delusive unless sustained and backed up by the sentiment of the people who are parties to it. 
  • Walkers will be on the lookout for birds such as short-eared owls, winter wildfowl and the elusive hen harrier.
  • Now our understanding has been transformed by large numbers of artefacts from excavations (workshops remain elusive) and, recently, from detectorists.
  • A team from the US and Russia produced the elusive element 117 by fusing together atoms of calcium and another rare, heavy element known as berkelium, filling in the final gap on the list of observed elements up to 118. Zee News : India National
  • Sonar initially generated concern when 16 rare and elusive beaked whales beached themselves in the Bahamas after the Navy used a mid-range sonar in March 2000.
  • After six seasons, Lost ended as it began, shrouded in an aura of pronounced mysterioso, its insistence on being elusive and allusive with regard to its central mythology either endlessly beguiling or endlessly irritating. William Bradley: Time Slips Away for 24 and Lost in Very Different Finales
  • Where colonial constructions force disparate peoples together by the arbitrariness of a colonial map-maker's pen, nationhood becomes an elusive notion.
  • The elusive jumbo prawns, barbecued chicken and pork spare ribs are monsoon specials.
  • From somewhere in the scattered islands of the archipelago came the most elusive and costly spices of all: cloves, nutmeg and mace. SPICE: The History of a Temptation
  • The foes are also more elusive: Lumbering zombies are replaced by elusive ghosts that materialise and dematerialise at will.
  • His portrait of this elusive, intensely private genius describes Faraday's links with painters and poets, polymaths and mystics.
  • They pick through trash, poke through mail and tap into sophisticated computer databases in search of the elusive money trail.
  • His translation of ‘Espergesia’ as ‘Epexegesis’ captures the power of this impossible word which some interpreters have considered to be a neologism and others an elusive archaism.
  • Chasing the elusive fun factor implies a much more iterative approach to development.
  • It's about the people who come to America in search of that elusive thing, the American dream.
  • So even after their best attempts to renovate our cosmic home, most of the Universe still remained elusive.
  • There can be no war nowadays between civilized nations, nor any peace that is not hollow and delusive unless sustained and backed up by the sentiment of the people who are parties to it. 
  • A cat's vast sense of entitlement may be delusive but at least it's honest.
  • Rangers also tried to swat McGeady, but found him an elusive quarry.
  • It has its faults - implausibility and absurdity in its sexual imbroglios and a narrative structure that tends towards the elusive.
  • Instead, the elusively-authored document reveals an organization that is either undeniably intent on delivering a full-faced bitch slap to Hillary Clinton, or just overrun with completely incompetent interns. Dan Treul: Dirty Leaflet Campaign Launched Against Clinton
  • Here we see the elusive and shy marsh gibbon, brachiating through the sphagnum swamps.
  • Ignoring the voters is an unaffordable luxury and a guarantee that power will remain elusive for many years to come. Times, Sunday Times
  • He was always elusive about the source of the gold, although he indicated that he had a rich mine.
  • Yet despite attempts to reduce adverse events through multilevel interventions and information technology, widespread change in the culture of health care remains elusive.
  • In Antiguan, jumby means "playful spirit" and the resort's extracurricular activities cover the gamut, from snorkeling excursions to nearby Bird Island to champagne stargazing (you can spot the elusive Andromeda galaxy) and nighttime treks along Pasture Beach where the hawksbill sea turtle nests. TIME.com: Top Stories
  • The tusked narwhal, white beluga whales and elusive bowhead whale all live off the northern part of this island.
  • But we should be clear that we are doing so for reasons of justice and not in the delusive hope of greater security.
  • The elusiveness of the leader and his lieutenants has gnawed at officials and has cast doubt on their claims of having disrupted the group.
  • The process is delusive and insufficient, exactly in proportion as the subject-matter of the observation is special and limited in extent.
  • I think she, too, projects something enigmatic and elusive. Times, Sunday Times
  • Things get clearer at the end, but a lot of evidence remains elusive. Times, Sunday Times
  • It's elusive, but has all the mythic proportions and qualities of the proverbial pot of gold.
  • I remember the pure exhilaration of tramping the steep slopes of the hills and mountains with him in search of our elusive prey.
  • The news is uncertain, the details clouded and vague, and the truth behind the fact is elusive.
  • Although I just wanted ham and cheese, Fred needed a saucisson sec which was a little more elusive.
  • Although they love getting anything they are hoping to find:a hand-written catalog card in "library hand"artifacts of homemade or local early computer systems for cards and orders, e.g. keypunched cards, etc.the ever-elusive Polaroid camera with attachment for taking pictures from the NUClocal manuals for typing cards, filing, etc. The Virtual Museum of Cataloging and Acquisitions Artifacts
  • The degradation of the substantial vegetative covering has caused migration to markhor and wild goat that has disturbed the food chain for the elusive snow leopard forcing him to migrate to some other habitats. Climate Vigil Rally Chitral, Pakistan
  • For the genealogist, however, the principal value of the returns lies in the help they provide in tracing elusive ancestors.
  • Explanation of Britain's relative economic decline in the third quarter of the twentieth century remains elusive.
  • France, by the perfidy of her leaders, has utterly disgraced the tone of lenient counsel in the cabinets of princes, and has taught kings to tremble at what will hereafter be called the delusive plausibilities of moral politicians. The World's Greatest Books — Volume 14 — Philosophy and Economics
  • All the evidence suggests that this is one of the key times to catch an elusive 40 pounder.
  • Tourists paddle canoes and kayaks, swim and pursue elusive trout in these waters.
  • Psi may be the result of nonphysical beings such as spirits or gods, and the elusive nature of psi may reflect the will of those beings.
  • What do you call a guy with lightning quickness who catches passes, takes handoffs, throws the ball, returns punts and is more elusive than Barry Sanders?
  • One of the most deadly of all these creatures is the elusive Cave Squig.
  • It goes with the territory when you weigh 255 pounds and lack elusiveness and opponents have been pounding on you for three months.
  • Tasked with nabbing an elusive bandit hiding out in a forest, this could become a long-running serial.
  • Photography's variety and self-effacing ubiquity have also made it an elusive historical entity, defying traditional interpretative or narrative structures.
  • But it is almost entirely depthless: a trompe-l'oeil of elusive ideas and replicant emotions.
  • What was unassuming and harmless suddenly becomes ironic, transmuted into that elusive thing we call ‘art.’
  • And as with all great works of art, its meaning was both obvious and rather difficult and elusive to explain. Times, Sunday Times
  • Its expansive, often elusive syntax was conveyed with finely graduated dynamics, and an inwardness that infused each element with significance.
  • They pick through trash, poke through mail and tap into sophisticated computer databases in search of the elusive money trail.
  • It is a splendid novel composed with a poised restraint and admirably captures the contrast between Henry James's vibrant fiction and the elusive, undramatic quality of his own life.
  • Eric, as elusive as ever, was nowhere to be found.
  • A heady, often impenetrable mix of shrubs, herbs and wild flowers, such as lavender, myrtle, marjoram and thyme, its elusive scent permeates everything from the wine to the honey.
  • And trimmers drifted further and further to the right in an elusive search for the ‘center’ of American politics.
  • The so-called harmonised draft is only the latest leap in Kenyas 20 year elusive search for a new constitution. WN.com - Photown News
  • Genuinely novel ethics are not always genuine improvements, while many anciently articulated ethical goals remain elusive.
  • Binoculars are supplied so you can view the black teal, swans, dabchicks, ducks and even the spotless crake or elusive bittern.
  • Sometimes how design improves our lives comes down to elusive, intangible emotions or feelings.
  • Any other kind of cousinship can be so elusive and distant that by itself it tells us very little about a relationship, even if it could be established. 'The Mystery of Max Eitingon': An Exchange
  • The initiating signal for this and all other forms of clinical appendicitis still remains elusive.
  • The Secretary of State and his Russian counterpart met to try to nail down the elusive accord.
  • At the time, Yang bemoaned, "A dignified, nonhysterical account of our peculiar sufferings untethered to the American upper middle class's Ivy League fixation and richly justified fear of national decline remains elusive. Silpa Kovvali: Tiger Brother: An Interview With Wesley Yang
  • There is a familiar, almost elusive geography to these places. WALKING THE BIBLE
  • So far the program has proved effective, but it hasn't yet passed what might be called its final exam: the search for the elusive gray-winged cotinga.
  • For many of the cast members, the show's consistency through the decades has allowed for precisely the sort of security and comfort that their murdering, comatose, back-stabbing, amnesiac, time-travelling characters always found so elusive. Life After 'Life' Is a Mystery
  • And Molnár's comedies do have the most unlabored, delusively easeful air of happy improvisations.
  • One of the most deadly of all these creatures is the elusive Cave Squig.
  • Taylor is still searching for that elusive first tour win but is not setting herself any future goals and targets in the sport.
  • There is even a personal shopping service, providing further help in tracking down that elusive pair of shoes.
  • They brought back piquantly appropriate or delusive answers, piquant enough to condemn the stories.
  • Even a relatively modest addition to the liberal framework, universal health coverage, remains elusive.
  • Naturalist Gloria Caminotti describes the mangroves in halting English, and points out some elusive lizards sunning themselves.
  • Most students find that the first job does eventually come along, and even that elusive Equity card is attainable.
  • For this exposure of supernatural agents upon a stage is truly bringing in a candle to expose their own delusiveness. On the Tragedies of Shakspere Considered with Reference to Their Fitness for Stage Representation
  • Dinner remained elusive; instead, there were classes in setting traps and making fires. Times, Sunday Times
  • Ordinarily, the intellectual impotence of man is regarded as carrying with it moral incapacity as well, and the delusiveness of knowledge is one of the strongest arguments for pessimism. Browning as a Philosophical and Religious Teacher
  • It was not only delusive but dangerous, for it lulled the public into a false sense of security.
  • The more I thought of this scene, the more I realized something – something elusive and yet right in front of me – was missing, though pinning down exactly what I could add to the mix was frustratingly vague. Some Thoughts, Part One – Story « The Graveyard
  • Mostly we aspire to write, and reaching toward something mysterious and elusive is where the work actually lives. January « 2008 « Bill Ayers
  • The source of his fever remained stubbornly elusive.
  • Yet again, he displayed the elusive nature of a Lord Lucan as he succeeded in evading the prying cameras outside Mountjoy.
  • In London late-night taxis are elusive and far from cheap.
  • On the other hand, it makes him an elusive target for a biographer.
  • In both traditions it is undefinable and unexplainable, elusive, frustratingly near and far, always so close yet just outside intellect's reach.
  • Reedie had been praying for that first elusive gold to come from Simon Lessing in today's men's triathlon.
  • But it was best to dismiss all things, he being so weak; to resign himself; all this had happened before, and had passed away, prosperously or unprosperously; it would pass away in this case, likewise; and in the morning whatever might be delusive would have disappeared. Doctor Grimshawe's Secret — a Romance
  • The result is odd, uncomfy, sometimes elusive, but undeniably original. Times, Sunday Times
  • Culture is the most important yet most elusive dimension of work.
  • He is making some of the elusive moves and tough catches that often weren't evident a year ago.
  • Yet for many it can remain frustratingly elusive, especially at that critical moment when boldness is required. Times, Sunday Times
  • Many smaller animals have also joined the collection: siamang gibbons, provost squirrels, howler monkey, armadillo and the elusive mona monkeys.
  • Facts are elusive and become more so once Mercury goes retrograde on Friday. Times, Sunday Times
  • If it's not unethical corporate moles and scratching through somebody else's rubbish, it's scratching through long columns of your own figures in the hope of an elusive clue.
  • The corrupt judge who convicted her has tired of the usual monetary bribes that generally facilitate a quick release and demands a more elusive prize - a virgin maiden.
  • It's all about hard, elusive answers rather than easy, instant solutions.
  • Often he would lie for hours, his elbows in the peaty soil, peering through a jungle of grass blades in search of those elusive musicians.
  • As I have already suggested, this clarity of style was compatible with considerable compression, even elusiveness, in argumentative structure.
  • Somebody has to pay for the connection - and a workable system for that has proved elusive. Times, Sunday Times
  • Why is political stability so elusive, and why are violence and rights violations so endemic?
  • There can be no war nowadays between civilized nations, nor any peace that is not hollow and delusive unless sustained and backed up by the sentiment of the people who are parties to it. 
  • ‘You are Canada's pride. You are Canada to me,’ he uttered, virtually prostrating himself in front of them in hopes of scoring some elusive Alberta votes.
  • However, as hard as she tried, her attempts were delusive.
  • This enabled the establishment of a critical position in relation to science which for Adorno remained so elusive.
  • Still, few other fields are gifted with even this much purchase upon the elusive ideal of inter-personal truth.
  • In this country, wild boar have become largely nocturnal and are an elusive prey. Times, Sunday Times
  • In London late-night taxis are elusive and far from cheap.
  • Fredric Jameson's 1981 lecture, ‘Postmodernism and Consumer Society,’ sheds some light on Wideman's portrayal of ghetto experience as delusive.
  • Think about the thousands of bettors who risk their hard-earned money on meaningless regular season hockey games, hoping to hit the elusive six-team parlay and bring a little joy into their otherwise excitement-less lives.
  • Bringing the discussion up to date, Orr finds that Jorie Graham, Geoffrey Hill, and Derek Walcott today are considered the epitome of ambition, while the quieter Kay Ryan finds the label elusive. The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
  • We repeatedly tried to contact the manager, an elusive man who was never in his office.
  • The wife of the elusive businessman has launched a blistering attack on the media over its reporting of her husband's business affairs.
  • Their versification is traditional, though impudent rhymes and elusive caesuras shocked diehards.
  • Science shed little light on the narwhal tusk, however, and its purpose remained elusive.
  • While Pottz tacked to and fro energetically seeking out the elusive peak, Richie dropped anchor and contemplated the horizon.
  • People of the world are rebuffed by the resulting arrogance and threatening postures, and peace remains elusive.
  • The elusive connection between Orphism and Pythagoreanism rears its head with Brontinus, since the fourth-century author, Epigenes, reports that Brontinus is supposed to be the real author of two works circulating in the name of Orpheus (West 1983, 9 ff.). Pythagoreanism
  • If humans could undo differentiation, though, doctors might not have to hunt for rare and elusive stem cells within the body or try to force stem cells from one tissue to regenerate tissue of another type.
  • "The Boomburbs are elusive and not yet fully part of the public policy debate," she said.
  • Pushing through the dust cloud above the surface to hug the craterous landscape, his squadron chased their elusive quarry through canyons and across wide open plains to the mountains. 365 tomorrows » I Pledge My Life : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day
  • The elusive unique selling point would also provide the city with an iconic image that would be used to brand Southampton for visitors.
  • Many who would benefit from the support and selfesteem boost of a stable partner find such comfort elusive. Times, Sunday Times
  • However, their profundity is usually very elusive and it may take weeks, months or even years to fully grasp their significance.
  • Its participants drew on an American tradition of collective organization and crowd action which held extralegal activity to be legitimate when justice was otherwise elusive.
  • Was she an elusive and difficult person from his past? Times, Sunday Times
  • Of uk quit smoking help who bogbean defunctness on the trucker or on a longitudinal pisanosaurus at coquettishly stertorously a duramen migratory they loweringed delusively nisi contusion as a cocuswood. Rational Review

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