Elusively

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a way that avoids easy detection or comprehension while being hard to pin down or achieve
2. In a manner characterized by an ability to be elusive or difficult to capture and understand
3. In a way that is hard to grasp or find, making understanding or capture challenging

Etymology: "Elusively" is a plain formation: the adjective "elusive" with the adverb-making suffix "-ly" added to its end. The adjective goes back through Middle French and Latin to "elusus", the past participle of "eludere", meaning "to escape by a trick" or "to get away from", built from "ex-" ("out") and "ludere" ("to play"). Ancient Latin speakers were, in a sense, describing a player slipping out of someone's grasp. The suffix has a longer history than the adjective. It descends from the Old English "-līċe", which was itself the adverbial form of the adjectival ending "-lic", meaning "having the form or quality of". Over centuries it was reduced in Middle English to "-ly" and became one of the most productive ways of turning adjectives into adverbs in English, so "elusively" is simply the adjective's quality described as a manner of action.

Synonyms: slipperily, intangibly, obscurely

Antonyms: clearly, obviously