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Unknown vs Elusive - What's the difference?

unknown | elusive |

As adjectives the difference between unknown and elusive

is that unknown is not known; unidentified; not well known while elusive is evading capture, comprehension or remembrance.

As a noun unknown

is a variable (usually x, y or z) whose value is to be found.

unknown

English

Adjective

(-)
  • Not known; unidentified; not well known.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=The Celebrity, by arts unknown , induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.}}

    Synonyms

    * anonymous * unfamiliar * uncharted * undiscovered * unexplored * unidentified * unnamed * unrecognized * unrevealed * unascertained * obscure * unsung

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (algebra) A variable (usually x'', ''y'' or ''z ) whose value is to be found.
  • Any fact or place about which nothing is known (as in the phrase "into the unknown").
  • A person of no identity; a nonentity
  • * 1965 , (Bob Dylan), (Like a Rolling Stone)
    • How does it feel
    To be on your own
    With no direction home
    Like a complete unknown
    Like a rolling stone?

    elusive

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Evading capture, comprehension or remembrance.
    • The elusive criminal was arrested
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1910 , author=Jack London , title=Lost Face , chapter=6 citation , passage=Charley chased the elusive idea through all the nooks and crannies of his drowning consciousness.}}
  • Rarely seen.
  • *
  • Difficult to describe.
    • A precise definition of diarrhea is elusive (Robbin's pathology, 8th ed)

    Related terms

    * (l)