lud-, ludi-, lus- +
(Latin: play, make sport of, jest; sportive; pastime)
allude
1. To play with, joke or jest at, dally with, touch lightly upon a subject.
2. To refer (a thing) fancifully or figuratively, to compare symbolically, to (something else).
3. To have an oblique, covert, or indirect reference, to point as it were in passing.
4. To make an indirect or passing reference, to glance at, refer indirectly to.
5. The OED says that allude is often used ignorantly as if it were equal to "refer" in its general sense.
6. Etymology: from Middle French alluder; from Latin alludere, "to joke, to jest"; from ad-, "to" and ludere, "to play". Originally "to mock", later, "to make a fanciful reference to"
allude, delude, deluge, elude, illude, refer
allude (uh LOOD)
To refer to indirectly without specific identification or details, to mention, to refer to: "He tried to allude to his childhood on the farm."
"The candidate was heard to allude to the recent war by saying, 'We’ve all made sacrifices.'"
delude (di LOOD)
1. To cause someone to believe something that is not true: "She said, if he thinks I care, then he will simply delude himself."
2. To deceive the mind or judgment of: "Much of the spam on the internet is done to delude people with some scheme or trickery."
deluge (DEL yooj)
1. To flood with water; inundate; submerge: "The deluge of rain caused severe mudslides."
2. To give or to send someone a large amount of things at the same time: "There will be a deluge of mail after the holidays."
elude (i LOOD)
1. To avoid, escape from, evade as by daring, cleverness, or skill: "The burglar found a way to elude the police by hiding in a dumpster."
"Even later, the suspect continued to elude the police because they couldn't locate him."
2. To escape the understanding or grasp of: "This is a name that has always eluded me and it continues to elude me."
"The true meaning of his speech will elude me unless I can find a dictionary."
illude (il LOOD)
To deceive; to mock; to excite and to disappoint the hopes of: "Any increase in salary will simply illude us in this time of economic slowdown."
refer (ri FUHR)
1. To direct to a source for help or information: "After completing the forms, she was able to refer me to the personnel director."
2. To assign or to attribute to; make reference to: "The writer wanted us to refer to the history book so he could verify his point."
3. To turn, to go; to consult: "Refer to the last page of the book for answers."
To refer to someone or something is to mention directly with specific identification.
alluded
Indirectly referred to, hinted at, or meant; as in "alluded to".
alluding
Referring indirectly to, hinting at.
allusion (uh LOO zhuhn)
1. An indirect reference to something; mention, hint, suggestion: "This book about American history makes a brief allusion to the ancient Greek idea of democracy."
2. A play upon words, a word-play, a pun (now considered obsolete).
3. A covert, implied, or indirect reference; a passing or incidental reference.
4. Etymology: from Latin
allusionem, allusio, "a playing with, a reference to"; from
allus-, a stem of
alludere.
An allusion is never an outright or explicit mention of the person or thing the speaker seems to have in mind.
allusion, delusion, elusion, illusion
allusion (uh LOO zhuhn)
1. An indirect reference to something; a hint: "This book about American history makes a brief allusion to the ancient Greek idea of democracy."
2. A statement that refers to something without mentioning it directly; an implied or indirect reference: "She made an allusion to her first marriage, but she said nothing more revealing about it."
An allusion is never an outright or explicit mention of the person or thing the speaker seems to have in mind.
delusion (di LOO zhuhn)
1. A false idea, belief, or opinion that is contrary to fact or reality, resulting from deception or a misconception: "He labored under the delusion that he would be successful."
2. A mental disorder; a false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence; especially, as a mental disorder: "He had a delusion that all women hated him."
"She had the delusion of being extraordinarily beautiful."
"He had the delusion that he was a young boy riding his tricycle as he was balanced on his head."
Technically, a delusion is a belief that, though false, has been surrendered to and accepted by the whole mind as the truth.
elusion (i LOO zhuhn)
Evasion, escape by deception: "The embezzlers celebrated their elusion of the police a little too soon because they were caught."
illusion (i LOO zhuhn)
1. A deception; a false, although often pleasant, notion; a misconception: "A person's illusion of youth fades with maturity."
2. A misleading visual impression; hallucination: "Mirrors give an illusion of more space in a room."
3. A deceptive appearance; anything that seems to be something else or something that seems to exist but actually does not: "He had the illusion that the woman was floating above his bed."
allusive
1. Playing upon a word, punning.
2. Symbolical, metaphorical, figurative.
3. Containing an allusion; having, or abounding, with indirect references.
allusively
1. In an allusive (hint) manner.
2. In a manner characterized by an allusion (indirect reference).
collude
1. To act together secretly to achieve a fraudulent or deceitful purpose; to connive.
2. To act in secret concert with, chiefly in order to trick or baffle some third person or party.
3. To play into one another's hands; to conspire, to plot, to connive; and to play falsely.
4. To act in unison, or agreement, and in secret towards a deceitful or illegal purpose.
collusion
1. Literally, a playing together, or into each other's hands.
2. A secret agreement or understanding for purposes of trickery or fraud; underhanded scheming or working with another; deceit, fraud, trickery.
3. Etymology: from Old French collusion; from Latin collusionem, "act of colluding"; from colludere, from com-, "together" + ludere, "to play"; from ludus "game".
collusive
1. Acting together in secret toward a fraudulent or illegal end.
2. Secretly cooperating, or involving secret cooperation, in order to do something illegal or underhanded.
collusively
Characterized by a secret agreement between two or more parties for a fraudulent, illegal, or deceitful purpose.
delude, deluded
1. To disappoint or deprive of by fraud or deceit; to defraud of.
2. To befool the mind or judgment of, so as to cause what is false to be accepted as true.
3. To bring by deceit into a false opinion or belief; to cheat, to deceive, to beguile; to impose upon with false impressions or notions.
4. Etymology: from Latin deludere, "to mock, to deceive"; from de-, "down, to one's detriment" + ludere, "to play".
deluder
Someone who deceives or imposes false impressions or ideas.
delusion (di LOO zhuhn)
1. A false idea, belief, or opinion that is contrary to fact or reality, resulting from deception; a misconception: "He labored under the delusion that he would be successful."
2. A mental disorder; a false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence; especially, as a mental disorder: "He had delusions of persecution by all women." "She had delusions of grandeur." "He had the delusion that he was a young boy riding his tricycle as he was balanced on his head."
3. Anything that deceives the mind with a false impression; a deception; a fixed false opinion or belief with regards to objective things, especially as a form of mental derangement.
4. Something falsely disseminated or believed; a deception.
5. Technically, a delusion is a belief that, though false, has been surrendered to and accepted by the whole mind as a truth.
Related "jest; joke; wit; humor; funny" word units:
faceti-;
farc-;
humor-;
jocu-;
satir-.
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