as in referring
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Recent Examples of allusive
Their plots were complex, nested, allusive, the sort of TV that demanded activity and attention rather than passivity.
—
Phillip MacIak, The New Republic, 24 Aug. 2023
Style often allowed a filmmaker to set a mood in an allusive way.
—Hazlitt, 9 Aug. 2023
Aside from the text on that bottle, O’Brien’s work is allusive and indirect.
—Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 21 July 2023
But by choosing literalness over ambiguity, ‘The Boogeyman’ doesn’t quite stick the landing like that richly allusive 2014 Australian film did.
—Sonaiya Kelley, Los Angeles Times, 2 June 2023
See All Example Sentences for allusive
Phillip MacIak, The New Republic, 24 Aug. 2023
Style often allowed a filmmaker to set a mood in an allusive way.
—Hazlitt, 9 Aug. 2023
Aside from the text on that bottle, O’Brien’s work is allusive and indirect.
—Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 21 July 2023
But by choosing literalness over ambiguity, ‘The Boogeyman’ doesn’t quite stick the landing like that richly allusive 2014 Australian film did.
—Sonaiya Kelley, Los Angeles Times, 2 June 2023
See All Example Sentences for allusive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for allusive
Adjective
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Past performance is not indicative of future results.—
Heather L. Locus,
Forbes,
10 Mar. 2025
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This is a move commonly indicative of a wrestler's release, as seen with recent departures like Miro, Ricky Starks, and Malakai Black.—
William Lambers,
Newsweek,
8 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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When the organization signed rapper Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in 2019, the performances narrowed further, centering around hip-hop while shunting aside rock, country, pop and other music genres that are also reflective of America’s melting pot.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Mar. 2025
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The finale might be reflective of LaBruce’s own skepticism, specifically his disdain for large-scale movements that advocate for a tidy future and his preference for the ideas of French philosopher and poet Jean Genet.—
P.E. Moskowitz,
Vulture,
7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Semantic bleaching is another linguistic process whereby the denotative content of a word is stripped away.—
Brandon Tensley,
CNN,
10 July 2022
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The paragon of such an attempt is something like Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror, a work that stands as a denotative record of the social media shift, yet still falls to the same difficulties that characterize other cultural criticism of this type.—
SPIN,
SPIN,
8 Feb. 2022
Adjective
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Her expressive reading of it was as much song as speech.—
Mark Swed,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Feb. 2025
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In the past decade and half, the key shift in her painterly language is the sinuous, expressive lines that appear within her images, often in the foreground.—
Emmanuel Iduma,
ARTnews.com,
21 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Charmingly, the leap indicator was actually displayed on the 48 month subdial, something highly characteristic of the 5516.—
Thomas Wojtowicz,
Forbes,
28 Feb. 2025
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These human failings are characteristic of popes up to the modern day.—
Timothy Nerozzi,
Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government,
28 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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This haphazard nihilism is symptomatic of Musk’s approach with the de-facto Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE): destroy first, ask questions later.—
Stephen Collinson,
CNN,
1 Mar. 2025
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The False Promises of AI The push for this copyright exception is symptomatic of a broader trend: the overhyping of generative AI.—
Virginie Berger,
Forbes,
28 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Changing the terminology the committee uses is a symbolic move that reflects the support among many Republicans in Congress for recognizing Israeli sovereignty there.—
Barak Ravid,
Axios,
26 Feb. 2025
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By then, John had died, and a new Pope, Paul VI—the former Archbishop of Milan, Giovanni Battista Montini—had gone to Jerusalem, seeking symbolic expression of the new Catholic-Jewish amity.—
Paul Elie,
The New Yorker,
26 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Allusive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/allusive. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.
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