Library / English Dictionary

ALLUDE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a more or less disguised reference to

Example:

He alluded to the problem but did not mention it

Synonyms:

advert; allude; touch

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "allude" is one way to...):

hint; suggest (drop a hint; intimate by a hint)

"Allude" entails doing...:

denote; refer (have as a meaning)

Verb group:

bear on; come to; concern; have to do with; pertain; refer; relate; touch; touch on (be relevant to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

allusion (passing reference or indirect mention)

allusive (characterized by indirect references)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Once afterwards she was alluded to by him.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

But her curiosity was unavailing, for no farther notice was taken of Mr. Ferrars's name by Miss Steele when alluded to, or even openly mentioned by Sir John.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Having alluded to "an accident," he must hear the whole.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

It was perfectly obvious to me, on reading the Ritual, that the measurements must refer to some spot to which the rest of the document alluded, and that if we could find that spot, we should be in a fair way towards finding what the secret was which the old Musgraves had thought it necessary to embalm in so curious a fashion.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Jackson, on account of his prowess and of the tact which he possessed, had been chosen as general regulator of the whole prize-fighting body, by whom he was usually alluded to as the Commander-in-Chief.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Henry's astonishing generosity and nobleness of conduct, in never alluding in the slightest way to what had passed, was of the greatest assistance to her; and sooner than she could have supposed it possible in the beginning of her distress, her spirits became absolutely comfortable, and capable, as heretofore, of continual improvement by anything he said.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

For I thought he wanted something else to eat, and had pointedly alluded to that description of refreshment.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I will also allude very briefly to our river journey, up a wide, slow-moving, clay-tinted stream, in a steamer which was little smaller than that which had carried us across the Atlantic.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"I thank you all very much for helping me, and I'll thank you still more if you won't allude to it for a month, at least."

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Could he allude to an object on whom I dared not even think?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)