3 syllables: E, lu, sive. Stress on lu.
il-OO-siv
/ɪˈlusɪv/
Elusive is pronounced il-OO-siv (/ɪˈlusɪv/). It has three syllables (E-lu-sive), with the stress on "lu". Elusive is something or someone difficult to catch or understand, often evading clear definition or simple explanation. It describes items, goals, or ideas that slip away from capture or full comprehension, demanding careful attention or persistence. The word conveys a sense of evading clarity, resulting in a subtle, hard-to-pin-down quality.
adjectiveElusive is something or someone difficult to catch or understand, often evading clear definition or simple explanation. It describes items, goals, or ideas that slip away from capture or full comprehension, demanding careful attention or persistence. The word conveys a sense of evading clarity, resulting in a subtle, hard-to-pin-down quality.
- Common Mistake 1: Swapping the stress to the first syllable (e-LU-sive) makes the word sound off. Correction: fix to i-LU-sive with strong secondary cue on the /ˈluː/. - Common Mistake 2: Shortening the /uː/ or pronouncing it as /u/; desired is a clear long vowel. Practice with 'food' length. - Common Mistake 3: Blurring the final /sɪv/ into 'siv' or dropping the final /v/; ensure the /v/ is voiced and crisp. Tips: slow down, place your tongue high at /uː/ and push air with the lower lip touching the upper teeth for /v/; practice with minimal pairs such as 'elude' vs 'elusive' to feel the nuance.
How to Pronounce Elusive
"The thief remained elusive, slipping through every gap in the security system."
"Understanding the elusive concept required multiple readings and practical demonstrations."
"Her answers were elusive, leaving the interviewer grasping for specifics."
Pronounce as i-LOO-siv with primary stress on the second syllable: /ɪˈluː.sɪv/ in US and UK IPA. Start with a short initial vowel, a long 'oo' as in 'food', then the unstressed '-sive' sounds like 'siv'. Mouth: lips neutral-to-rounded for the /uː/; keep the jaw relaxed; the /v/ at the end is voiced. For native-like rhythm, emphasize the long /uː/ and keep the final /v/ crisp but quick.
Two common errors: 1) Misplacing stress, saying e-LU-sive with primary stress on the first syllable. 2) Not lengthening the /uː/; pronouncing /ɪˈluːsɪv/ with a shorter vowel or unclear final /v/. Correction: maintain /ɪˈluː.sɪv/ with a clear long /uː/ in the second syllable and a final voiceless or voiced end depending on context, but keep voice on /v/. Practice by saying 'too-LOO-sive' emphasis on the middle and slow it down to confirm.
In US/UK/AU, the vowel in the second syllable remains a long /uː/. Differences are subtle: US often has rhotic r coloring in connected speech; UK and AU maintain standard non-rhotic tendencies in careful speech, but in connected speech vowels can be slightly shorter in rapid talk. The final /v/ remains the same across accents. The primary difference is rhythm and vowel quality: US tends to a more precise /juː/ glide, while UK/AU may show a lighter, crisper /uː/ and slightly less vowel duration in syllables before /v/.
The difficulty comes from the combination of a mid-vowel onset /ɪ/ with a long /uː/ in the second syllable and a steep syllabic boundary before the final /sɪv/. The transition from /ˈluː/ to /sɪv/ requires controlled timing and jaw tension. Beginners often flatten the /uː/ or blur the /s/ and /v/ into a single sound. Focusing on clear syllable separation and a precise /v/ at the end helps improve accuracy.
Elusive has no silent letters. Every letter corresponds to a sound: e(ə/ɪ) in the first syllable, -lu- with /uː/ as the long vowel, -sive ending with /sɪv/. The challenge is not silence but accurate vowel length, consonant voicing, and syllable stress. Ensure you hear and articulate the /ɪ/ in the final syllable before the /v/ and don’t merge /s/ with /v/.
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- US: Rhoticity tends to maintain the 'r' in surrounding context; the /ɹ/ influence can color surrounding vowels; keep /ɹ/ light unless necessary. - UK: Non-rhotic, crisper /uː/ and shorter before final consonants; avoid over-rounding. - AU: Similar to UK but with slight flattened vowels; /ˈluːsɪv/ with a lighter jaw and relaxed lips. IPA anchors: US /ɪˈluː.sɪv/, UK /iˈluː.sɪv/, AU /iˈluː.sɪv/. Practice: compare vowel length with 'food' (long /uː/) and practice ending with gentle /v/.
Elusive derives from the Latin eludere, meaning to escape, mock, or evade, from e- (out) + ludere (to play or to mock). The first component implies movement away from capture; the second underlines a sense of trickery or evasion. The word entered English via Middle French and Latin-based roots, with early uses around evading detection or explanation. Over time, its scope broadened from physical evasion to cognitive or conceptual elusiveness—referring to ideas, memories, or explanations that are hard to pin down. The 17th- to 19th-century development intensified its association with cunning escape and difficult comprehension, as writers described people, problems, or phenomena that resisted straightforward description. By the modern era, elusive retained its core sense of evasion and difficulty, but gained a broader application to concepts, goals, and phenomena that resist capture, understanding, or articulation. This evolution mirrors shifts in psychology, philosophy, and mundane usage, where the emphasis moves from physical pursuit to intellectual ambiguity and interpretive challenge.
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Words that rhyme with "Elusive"
-ive sounds
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