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al·lude

(ə-ld)

intr.v. al·lud·ed, al·lud·ing, al·ludes

To make an indirect reference: The candidate alluded to the recent war by saying, "We've all made sacrifices."

[Latin allūdere, to play with : ad-, ad- + lūdere, to play (from lūdus, game; see leid- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots).]

Usage Note: Unlike semantically similar verbs that take a clause as a complement (such as suggest and hint), allude usually requires a prepositional phrase starting with to. Occasionally one sees allude with a clause, as in The ambassador alluded that sanctions might soon be lifted. Such constructions have a long history, occurring in written sources as far back as the late 1500s, but they are not established as standard usage. In our 2015 survey, 86 percent of the Usage Panel considered the example above unacceptable, with 65 percent judging it completely unacceptable.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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