different between allusion vs allusive

English

Etymology

From Latin all?si?nem, accusative singular of all?si? (“the act of playing with”), from all?d? (“play with; allude”), from al-, combining form of ad (“to”), + l?d? (“play”): compare French allusion.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /??lu.??n/
• Rhymes: -u???n

Noun

allusion (countable and uncountable, plural allusions)

1. An indirect reference; a hint; a reference to something supposed to be known, but not explicitly mentioned
   • 2014, Kathleen Kuiper [editor], Classical Authors: 500 BCE to 1100 CE

     The influence of Lucretius on Virgil was pervasive, especially in Virgil's Georgics; and it is in clear allusion to Lucretius that Virgil wrote, “Happy is the man who can read the causes of things.”

   • 1835, Joseph Smith, Jr., Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate

     We draw the conclusion then, that the very reason why the multitude, or the world, as they were designated by the Savior, did not receive an explanation upon his parables, was, because of unbelief. To you, he says, (speaking to his disciples) it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: and why? because of the faith and confidence which they had in him. This parable was spoken to demonstrate the effects that are produced by the preaching of the word; and we believe that it has an allusion directly, to the commencement, or the setting up of the kingdom in that age […]

Translations

Related terms

• allude

French

Etymology

From Latin all?si?nem, accusative singular of all?si? (“the act of playing with”), from all?d? (“allude”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ly.zj??/

Noun

allusion f (plural allusions)

1. allusion, innuendo

   En parlant ainsi, il faisait allusion aux mœurs de son temps.

   In speaking thus, he was alluding [literally making allusion] to the mores of his time.

Further reading

• “allusion” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??lu?.s?v/, /??lju?.s?v/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??lu?.s?v/
  • Homophone: elusive

Adjective

allusive (comparative more allusive, superlative most allusive)

1. that contains or makes use of allusions (indirect references or hints)
   • 1984, John Bayley, Two pieces on translating Mandelstam, Selected Essays, page 149,

     English poetry is compelled by the stubbornness of the language continually to renounce the too obviously poetic: but in seeking to be more precise, more dense and more allusive, Russian poetry has never had to give up the straightforward traditional intoxications of sound and rhyme.

   • 2010, James Matthews, Late Modernism and the Marketplace, Edwina Keown, Carol Taaffe (editors), Irish Modernism, page 172,

     The footnotes ensure that the lines become more allusive and more polysemantic, vacillating between transubstantiation and ghostly intimations.

   • 2013, Nick Nicholas, George Baloglou (translators and editors), Introduction, Unknown author, An Entertaining Tale of Quadrupeds, [14th c, ????????????? ???????? ??? ???? ??? ??????????], page 87,

     The Book is a more allusive work than the Tale, which leads to speculation on whether the digressions in both works might not merely be a case of a rambling narrator.

   Synonym: suggestive

Derived terms

Related terms

• allude
• allusion

Translations

Anagrams

• eluvials

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ly.ziv/
• Homophone: allusives

Adjective

allusive

1. feminine singular of allusif

Italian

Adjective

allusive

1. feminine plural of allusivo