Allude vs elude

When talking about avoiding a physical, mental, or figurative grasp of something or someone, like As new parents, a good night’s sleep has eluded them for many moons now … elude is your term. To allude to something means to refer to it indirectly or by suggestion. To elude means to evade and escape.

The words allude and elude are often confused and hence frequently misused in a sentence. Elude means to evade or escape from. Allude means to make indirect reference. Because the accent is on the second syllable in both words, it’s easy to get them mixed up.

See our other post for the difference between allusion and elusion. What is elude used in a sentence? This page has examples of allude and elude in sentences to explain the difference and an interactive exercise. Now, let’s go over a few ways to use these words in English.

Use allude when you want to refer to something without making a direct or explicit reference to it. Express delivery in 3-working days. Find Your New Favorites Today. There are two easy ways to remember which word to use and when.

First, since elude has to do with evading and escaping, all of which begin with the letter “e,” you have a built in mnemonic. They are also relatively similar in their spelling. Despite these similarities in sound and spelling, they have distinctly different meanings.

Since both allude and elude have an air of secrecy behind them, it’s quite understandable to get these two words confused. The secrecy in allude has to do with being indirect and vague, while elude ’s secrecy is in its ability to evade capture. Could also mean (synonyms): evade, avoi get away from, dodge, flee, escape (from), run (away) from.

The synonyms for this word include: refer to, suggest, hint at, imply, mention, touch on, mention in passing. Using elude in a sentence: As we’ve explained. Example: The speaker.

It means to refer to something indirectly. It can mean to escape or evade capture in a clever way, or you can use it to express a lack of understanding of something. For example: He alluded to the scandal without direclty mentioning it.

Therefore, it is important to know the differences between each. Do not confuse allude with refer. If we say, Good old Joe is here, we refer to Joe.

Follow our advice below and you should be able to avoid mistakes in your written work. If you allude to something, it means you are making a disguised reference to it. Click here for the full Spellzone dictionary definition of the word. Here is allude used in some example sentences: She alluded to who she was talking about without mentioning a name.

After all, they are spelled similarly, and they also sound very much alike. Take a moment to read about how these two words are different so that the next time you need to use one of them, you will choose correctly! Use “ allude ” when one means to refer indirectly or casually.

Use “delude” when one means to mislead the judgment or mind of. The verb “delude” is often used reflexively. Use “ elude ” when one means to escape or avoid by trickery, cleverness, or speed.

Use “illude” when one means to trick or deceive.