Nearby Words
| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | evasive, mysterious |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, baffling, cagey, deceitful, deceptive, difficult to catch, elusory, equivocal, evanescent, fallacious, fleeting, fraudulent, fugacious, fugitive, greasy, illusory, imponderable, incomprehensible, indefinable, insubstantial, intangible, misleading, occult, phantom, puzzling, shifty, shy, slippery, stonewalling, subtle, transient, transitory, tricky, unspecific, volatile |
| Notes: | elusive is used when what is being avoided is physical capture or apprehension, whereas evasive is used when what is being avoided is direct or relevant response to a verbal challenge illusory means based on or having the nature of an illusion; elusive means difficult to describe or skillful at eluding capture |
| Antonyms: | attracting, confronting, encountering, enticing, facing, inviting |
| Main Entry: | evasive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | deceitful, tricky |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, cagey, casuistic, casuistical, cunning, deceptive, devious, dissembling, elusive, elusory, equivocating, false, fugitive, greasy, indirect, intangible, lying, misleading, oblique, prevaricating, shifty, shuffling, slippery, sly, sophistical, stonewalling, unclear, vague |
| Notes: | elusive is used when what is being avoided is physical capture or apprehension, whereas evasive is used when what is being avoided is direct or relevant response to a verbal challenge |
| Antonyms: | direct, forthright, honest, ready, straight, straightforward |
| Main Entry: | fugitive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | fleeing, transient |
| Synonyms: | avoiding, brief, criminal, elusive, ephemeral, errant, erratic, escaping, evading, evanescent, fleeting, flitting, flying*, fugacious, hot*, impermanent, lamster, momentary, moving, on the lam, passing, planetary, running away, short*, short-lived, temporary, transitory, unstable, volatile, wandering, wanted |
| Antonyms: | confronting, facing, permanent |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | furtive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | sneaky, secretive |
| Synonyms: | artful, calculating, cautious, circumspect, clandestine, cloaked, conspiratorial, covert, crafty*, creepy*, cunning, disguised, elusive, evasive, foxy, guileful, hidden, hush-hush, insidious, masked, scheming, shifty, skulking, slinking, sly, stealthy, sub-rosa, surreptitious, tricky*, under wraps, under-the-table, undercover, underhand, underhanded, wily |
| Antonyms: | aboveboard, forthright, honest, open, truthful |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | inaccessible |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | out of reach |
| Synonyms: | aloof, away, beyond, distant, elusive, far, far-off, faraway, impassable, impervious, impracticable, insurmountable, not at hand, out-of-the-way, remote, unachievable, unapproachable, unattainable, unavailable, unfeasible, ungettable, unobtainable, unreachable, unrealizable, unworkable |
| Antonyms: | accessible, approachable, reachable |
| Main Entry: | intangible |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | indefinite, obscured |
| Synonyms: | abstract, abstruse, airy, dim, eluding, elusive, ethereal, evading, evanescent, evasive, hypothetical, impalpable, imperceptible, imponderable, inappreciable, incorporeal, indeterminate, insensible, invisible, rare, shadowy, slender, slight, unapparent, uncertain, unobservable, unreal, unsubstantial, unsure, vague |
| Antonyms: | definite, obvious, palpable, perceptible, tangible |
| Main Entry: | shifty |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | deceitful, untrustworthy |
| Synonyms: | cagey, collusive, conniving, contriving, crafty, crooked, cunning, devious, dishonest, dodging, duplicitous, elusive, equivocating, evasive, fly-by-night, foxy, fraudulent, furtive, insidious, lying, mendacious, prevaricative, prevaricatory, roguish, scheming, shady, shrewd, shuffling, slick, slimy*, slippery, sly, sneaky, treacherous, tricky, underhand, unhonest, unprincipled, untruthful, wily |
| Antonyms: | forthright, frank, honest, trustworthy |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | slippery |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | uncertain, unreliable |
| Synonyms: | cagey, changeable, crafty, cunning, devious, dishonest, duplicitous, elusive, evasive, false, fly-by-night, foxy, inconstant, insecure, mutable, shifty, slick, slithery, smooth, sneaky, treacherous, tricky, two-faced, unpredictable, unsafe, unstable, unsteady, untrustworthy, variable |
| Antonyms: | certain, definite, reliable, stable |
| Main Entry: | sly |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | clever, devious |
| Synonyms: | arch, artful, astute, bluffing, cagey, calculating, canny, captious, conniving, covert, crafty, crooked, cunning, deceitful, deceptive, delusive, designing, dishonest, dishonorable, dissembling, double-dealing, elusive, foxy, furtive, guileful, illusory, impish, ingenious, insidious, intriguing, mean, mischievous, plotting, roguish, scheming, secret, sharp, shifty, shrewd, slick, smart, smooth, sneaking, stealthy, subtle, traitorous, treacherous, tricky, underhand, unscrupulous, wily |
| Antonyms: | honest, open, simple, straight, straightforward, unclever |
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
