illusive
/ɪˈluːsɪv/adjective
illusive is spelled I-L-L-U-S-I-V-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 69,884th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “elusive vs illusive” about 880 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, illusive means “Subject to or pertaining to an illusion, often used in the sense of an unrealistic expectation or an unreachable goal or outcome” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in illusive?
| Letters | 8: I-L-L-U-S-I-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 69,884th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is illusive?
Illusive appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 69,884th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce illusive?
- /ɪˈluːsɪv/
Illusive has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-elusive-illusive.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with illusive
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: elusive (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of illusive
- more illusive comparative
- most illusive superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does illusive mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Subject to or pertaining to an illusion, often used in the sense of an unrealistic expectation or an unreachable goal or outcome.
Testing software completely is an illusive goal.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does illusive come from?
Borrowed from Medieval Latin illūsīvus.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).