elusion
Slipping away skillfully
Elusion is the act of eluding—escaping or evading something through cleverness or skill.
A fugitive's elusion of capture, a politician's elusion of difficult questions.
The word is less common than its verb form elude or its adjective elusive: His elusion of the authorities lasted three months.
Act of escaping detection
- getawaySwift departure or retreat
- flightAerial journey by aircraft
- fleeingRapid escape from danger
- slipping awayGradually leaving or diminishing
breakout · extrication · dodging · sidestepping · circumvention · avoidance · bolt · absconding
Intentional focus manipulation
- feintDeceptive mock attack
- diversionRedirection of attention
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
- sleight of handSkillful manual deception
decoy · red herring · smoke and mirrors · trickery · ruse · ploy · artifice · stratagem
Rapid following of quarry
- huntPursuit of quarry
- manhuntSearch for a suspect
- pursuitAct of chasing something
- cat and mouseProlonged pursuit game
tracking · trailing · quarry · prey · fugitive · escapee · runaway · wanted
Moving to avoid detection
- creepingMoving slowly, stealthily
- prowlingMoving stealthily while hunting
- slinkingMoving with furtive stealth
- furtivenessSecretive, evasive behavior
covertness · shadowing · hiding · lurking · ghosting · incognito · undetected · silent movement
Cannot be physically felt
- ineffabilityBeing beyond articulation
- inscrutabilityImpossible to understand
- incomprehensibilityBeing impossible to grasp
- abstractionDistilling to essential qualities
vagueness · ambiguity · obscurity · mystery · enigma · slipperiness · impalpability · indefinability
evasion
Act of escaping detection
slipping away · breakout · extrication · dodging · sidestepping · circumvention · avoidance · bolt · absconding · exfiltration
misdirection
Intentional focus manipulation
- feintDeceptive mock attack
- diversionRedirection of attention
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
sleight of hand · decoy · red herring · smoke and mirrors · trickery · ruse · ploy · artifice · stratagem · bluff
chase
Rapid following of quarry
cat and mouse · tracking · trailing · quarry · prey · fugitive · escapee · runaway · wanted · on the run
sneaking
Moving to avoid detection
- creepingMoving slowly, stealthily
- prowlingMoving stealthily while hunting
- slinkingMoving with furtive stealth
furtiveness · covertness · shadowing · hiding · lurking · ghosting · incognito · undetected · silent movement · infiltration
intangibility
Cannot be physically felt
- ineffabilityBeing beyond articulation
- inscrutabilityImpossible to understand
- incomprehensibilityBeing impossible to grasp
abstraction · vagueness · ambiguity · obscurity · mystery · enigma · slipperiness · impalpability · indefinability · uncatchable
elusionconfrontation
Direct hostile encounter
engagement · facing · encounter · meeting · tackling
elusioncapture
Take into custody
apprehension · seizure · entrapment · catching · detention
elusionsubmission
Yielding to another's will
acceptance · compliance · endurance · toleration · acquiescence
- elusive creatureHard-to-find animal
elusive, delusion, delusive, delusional, elusively, elusiveness, elusions, delusiveness