Eludable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Capable of being avoided, escaped, or evaded whether by cleverness or skill; describing something that can be bypassed or successfully dodged; able to be shunned or kept out of reach by means of clever action
2. Something that can be deliberately circumvented or kept from happening through skillful maneuvering; able to be escaped or evaded effectively; describing situations or conditions that may be successfully avoided
3. Denoting the quality of being avoidable or escapable; referring to circumstances or events that one can slip away from or avert; characterizing the ability to dodge or bypass something undesirable through agility or cunning

Etymology: "Eludable" is formed from the verb "elude" plus the suffix "-able," meaning "capable of being." "Elude" comes from Latin "eludere," "to escape by play or trickery," built from "ex-" ("out") and "ludere" ("to play"), the same root that gives "ludicrous" and "allude" (in the sense of playing around a topic). The original image is of slipping out of a grip or a trap as if in a game. English took "elude" directly from Latin, and the adjective "eludable" follows the same pattern as "lovable" or "readable." Because it is a regular derivation, it has no separate recorded first use that can be confidently dated, and its meaning is simply the sum of its parts: something that can be evaded or escaped.

Synonyms: avoidable, evasive, dodgable, escapable, elusive

Antonyms: unavoidable, inescapable, inevitable, ineluctable