EN

Synonyms for evasive

  • adjective

Most common

elusive slippery shifty devious equivocal ambiguous

Synonyms by meaning

Adjective

1. Elusive

elusive, slippery, shifty, devious, sly, deceitful, sneaky, tricky, elusory, cunning

2. Equivocal

equivocal, ambiguous, cagey, vague, non-committal, unclear

Other

shuffling, sophistical

Antonyms

direct, frank, candid

All antonyms of evasive →

Definitions

  1. adj. 1

    Tending to avoid speaking openly or making revelations about oneself.

  2. adj. 2

    Directed towards avoidance or escape

Related words

Word family
evasiveness
Phrases
evasive action

Example sentences

  • slippery The way, sodden with rain, was extremely slippery.
  • elusive The answer to this question has proved elusive.
  • devious Tom doesn't seem to be as devious as Mary seems to be.
  • shifty He's a shifty character and I don't trust him one bit.
  • ambiguous The main feature of this scheme is still ambiguous.
  • equivocal Research in this area is somewhat equivocal.

Popularity over time

Word1850 → 2019Trend
evasivesteady
slipperyrising
elusiverising
deviousrising
shiftyrising
ambiguousrising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters
sly1
5 letters
vague1, cagey2
6 letters
tricky2, sneaky2, shifty2
7 letters
unclear2, elusive3, cunning2, devious3, elusory
8 letters
slippery3
9 letters
ambiguous4, shuffling2, deceitful3, equivocal4
11 letters
sophistical

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (cagey2 = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français
évasif
Italiano
evasivo