Elusive means difficult to find, catch, achieve, or understand.

Quick Scoop: Core meaning

  • When something is elusive, it stays just out of reach, whether physically or in your mind.
  • It can describe:
    • A person or animal that’s hard to find or catch.
* An idea, truth, or feeling that’s hard to fully understand or define.

* A goal or result that’s hard to achieve, like “an elusive victory.”

Simple examples

  • “The fox was elusive, disappearing into the forest before anyone could get close.”
  • “The solution to the problem remained elusive for years.”
  • “Sleep was strangely elusive after the long, stressful day.”

Elusive as a vibe

Think of something you can almost grasp but never quite hold onto—a name on the tip of your tongue, a dream you forget right after waking, or a mysterious person who never fully opens up. That slipping-away quality is what “elusive” captures.

“The truth behind the rumors remained elusive, no matter how much people gossiped online.”

Quick word family

  • Elusiveness : the quality of being hard to catch, define, or achieve.
  • Elusively : adverb form, as in “He smiled elusively and changed the subject.”

Tiny story to lock it in

Imagine everyone on a forum is trying to figure out the “real story” behind a trending celebrity relationship, but no solid facts ever appear—only hints and rumors. The truth there is elusive : everyone is reaching for it, but it keeps slipping away.

TL;DR: Elusive = hard to find, catch, understand, or achieve—something that always feels just out of reach.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.