allusive

adjective

al·​lu·​sive ə-ˈlü-siv 

-ziv

: characterized by or containing allusion : making implied or indirect references

Both men employ a densely allusive prose, richly embedded with the fruit of their reading, and both use language as a tool by which to explore and define themselves.

—Michiko Kakutani

One way that Cuarón avoids solipsism is to keep his own most consequential experiences to the story's margins—his parents' split is portrayed obliquely, through allusive moments and eavesdropped conversations.

—Ann Hornaday

allusively adverb

He speaks so rapidly and so allusively that listening to a lecture by him is an exhausting as well as an enriching experience.

—Gertrude Himmelfarb

allusiveness noun

Ballet can't convey historical detail; its power is in allusiveness, in imagery, in suggesting states of mind and emotion that words cannot capture.

—Roslyn Sulcas

Examples of allusive in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This deliberately allusive narrative style enables the author to elude the topic of Nazism—or at least to hint at it in a covert way, thus making the novel acceptable to a wide German audience at the time of its publication in 1968. —Ombline Damy, JSTOR Daily, 26 June 2025

Every two-color page shows off some new and unexpected layout or brush technique — there are cutaways and maps and mythical creatures and beautiful, allusive drawings of tigers and flames. —Sam Thielman, New York Times, 29 Apr. 2025

The allusive, charged opening sequence alone would qualify as a devastating short film on the subject. —Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2025

As a former foreign correspondent, Fenton has had experiences similar to my own, but poetry provides a more allusive, emotional language than journalism. —The Week Uk, theweek, 11 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1607, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for allusive

• abusive
• collusive
• conclusive
• conducive
• delusive
• diffusive
• elusive
• exclusive
• extrusive
• illusive
• inclusive
• intrusive