elusive

/əˈlusɪv/

/ɪˈlusɪv/

Other forms: elusively

Things that are elusive are hard to find, pin down, or remember. They slip right out of your grasp.

Ever try to catch a mouse? It's not easy, because mice are quick and elusive — they're tough to catch. Rabbits are speedy, so they're elusive too. Also, things that are tough to understand or describe are elusive — like the concepts of love and beauty. If you had an idea and then forgot it, the idea is elusive: it slipped away. Anything you can't get hold of, with your hands or with your brain, is elusive.

Definitions of elusive

1. adjective

   skillful at eluding capture
   “"a cabal of conspirators, each more elusive than the archterrorist"- David Kline”

   synonyms:

   artful

   marked by skill in achieving a desired end especially with cunning or craft
2. adjective

   difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
   “that elusive thing the soul”

   synonyms: subtle

   impalpable

   imperceptible to the senses or the mind
3. adjective

   difficult to describe
   “a haunting elusive odor”

   synonyms:

   unidentifiable

   impossible to identify
4. adjective

   making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe
   synonyms: baffling, knotty, problematic, problematical, tough

   difficult, hard

   not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure