illusive

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of illusive There is nothing wrong with wanting to be in communication or to lurk on their pages — especially when Venus retrograde links up with illusive Neptune on March 27th. Lisa Stardust, refinery29.com, 27 Feb. 2025 The month wraps up with a very special cosmic event, as illusive and intuitive Neptune will leave your sign for the first time in nearly 15 years, ingressing into fiery Aries. Nina Kahn, StyleCaster, 24 Feb. 2025 The ever-illusive Banksy, whose real identity remains a mystery, was not always so secretive, reveals the BBC. The Editors Of Artnews, ARTnews.com, 16 Jan. 2025 Howl, an illusive magic-user, takes over the cooking from Sophie, placing bacon in the pan and feeding egg shells to Calcifer, who happily munches away on the detritus. Eliana Dockterman, TIME, 21 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for illusive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for illusive
Adjective
  • Registration requirements today are largely illusory, with huge swaths of the non-citizen population exempt from registration and carry requirements.
    Robert Alexander, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Oct. 2025
  • But even if that purported lunar companion proves illusory, this new method of tracking down mysterious sources of unexplained material around giant exoplanets could become a definitive pathway for future exomoon finds.
    Nola Taylor Tillman, Scientific American, 13 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Voyager 1's approximate position lies half way along the imaginary line connecting these two stellar giants.
    Anthony Wood, Space.com, 25 Oct. 2025
  • Not all the scares and frights and bumps in the night are imaginary on Halloween.
    Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 24 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • This isn’t callousness or delusive optimism but, rather, a rebellion against the suffocating expectation that the elderly have foreclosed the possibility of joy.
    Hillary Kelly, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2024
  • To separate art from its historical framework is futile, and to reject it in an effort to censor past violence is a delusive act of virtue signaling.
    WSJ, WSJ, 5 July 2022
Adjective
  • Dealers and lenders have long engaged in deceptive and predatory practices that jack up prices for car buyers in order to line their pockets.
    Hugh Cameron, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Oct. 2025
  • This looks like an attempt to clean up their devastated public image following the Federal Trade Commission’s strong BOTS Act and deceptive practices case against them.
    Jem Aswad, Variety, 20 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • With its investments in AI infrastructure and obvious strengths on the power front, this is a country that is building out data centers and positioning itself as a hub for AI, entertainment, sports, finance, high-tech manufacturing and more.
    Diane Brady, Fortune, 27 Oct. 2025
  • The analyst pointed to Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing platform, as an obvious artificial intelligence beneficiary.
    Lisa Kailai Han, CNBC, 27 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • These concerns stem from high levels of speculative investment—totaling hundreds of billions of dollars—in artificial intelligence with few manifest payoffs, as well as the market’s top-heavy structure, with significant value concentrated in a handful of AI-bullish tech stocks.
    Hugh Cameron, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Oct. 2025
  • In that vacuum, religious zealots and cults manifest, nihilism thrives, and families are torn apart.
    Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 23 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Their arrest followed The Osefos allegedly making false and misleading claims after an April 2024 burglary at their family home that led to the insurance fraud criminal charges.
    Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 20 Oct. 2025
  • Judge calls for use of body cameras Credibility questions have long trailed law enforcement agencies, whether federal or local, and police statements immediately after an arrest have occasionally proved to be incorrect or misleading.
    Josh Campbell, CNN Money, 18 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • That is delusory of course, but it can be fashioned into a victory claim that might well be readily embraced by war-weary and war-wary Russians in the public and among the elite.
    John Mueller, Foreign Affairs, 29 Nov. 2022

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Cite this Entry

“Illusive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/illusive. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.

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