Dictionary

allude en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (UK) audio
• /əˈluːd/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /əˈljuːd/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /əˈlud/ (Canada, General-American)
• /əˈlʉːd/ (Australia, New-Zealand)

Etymology

From Middle French alluder, from Latin alludere (“to play with or allude”), from ad + ludere (“to play”). See also al-.

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To refer to something indirectly or by suggestion; to invoke it by implication rather than mention.
   • These speeches . . . do seem to allude unto such ministerial garments as were then in use. 1597, Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book V, Chapter xxix.3, 1841 ed., page 523
   • We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year. 2012 January 14, Robert L. Dorit, “Rereading Darwin”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 14 Nov 2012, page 23:
   • First, she alluded to her husband as "the man at home looking after the children". Then she referred to him as "my George".
   • It was aptly said by Newton that "whatever is not deduced from facts must be regarded as hypothesis," but hypothesis appears to us a title too honourable for the crude guessings to which we allude. 1846, George Luxford, Edward Newman, The Phytologist: a popular botanical miscellany: Volume 2, Part 2, page 474:

Forms

Deriveds

allusion · reallude · allusive

Hyponyms

adumbrate · innuendo

Relateds

collude · elude · hark back · hearken back · illude · inkling · delude

Synonyms

indicate · allude · moot · refer · suggest · hint · inkle · intimate · imply · advert · insinuate · signify

Translations (52)

cs nepřímo zmínit (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · fr alluder (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · ja 遠回しに触れる (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · oc alludir (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · it alludere (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · ja 嫌味を言う (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · ru намекну́ть (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · fi viitata (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · ru упомяну́ть (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · ro referi (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · fr faire allusion (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · sv anspela (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · fr suggérer (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · ru подразумевать (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · pt aludir (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · cs dělat narážky (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · eo aludi (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · be намякаць (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · ru упомина́ть (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · de andeuten (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · bg загатвам (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · de anspielen (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · nl toespelen (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · ja 当て擦る (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · uk посилатися (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · be намякну́ць (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · ga ailléidigh (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · th พาดพิง (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · el συστήνω (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · ru намека́ть (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · el υπαινίσσομαι (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · de erwähnen (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · ro face aluzie (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · fi vihjata (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · sh aludirati (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · cs nepřímo poukázat (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · el υπονοώ (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · gd luaidh (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · es aludir (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · ca al·ludir (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · ja 当て付ける (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · uk натякати (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · fa اشاره کردن (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · bg споменавам (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · nl alluderen (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · cs narážet (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · ga tagair do (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · nl zinspelen (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · sv alludera (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · es referirse (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · el συνιστώ (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion) · pl pić (refer to something indirectly or by suggestion)