Elusive — A Vocabulary Story
The Monkey of Emei Mountain
Jianhua had hiked Emei Mountain three times that summer, chasing rumours of a silver-furred monkey the locals called the Mist Walker. Tourists swore they had glimpsed it darting between cedars, but photographs always came back blurred. The creature was elusive, and that was precisely why she wanted it.
Elusive means difficult to find, catch, or achieve.
Her cousin Ping trudged behind, lugging the camera bag and grumbling about blisters.
"You said an hour," Ping muttered. "That was four hours ago."
"Wildlife is elusive by nature," Jianhua replied, scanning the canopy. "If it were easy, every visitor would have a snapshot."
They climbed past the Cleansing Pool, where steam curled up from warm springs. A flicker of movement in the bamboo made Jianhua freeze. Something pale, something quick. Then nothing. Elusive, again.
Ping sat on a damp stone and unwrapped a steamed bun. "Maybe it doesn't want to be found."
A branch creaked overhead. Jianhua slowly raised the camera. There, balanced on a mossy limb, sat the monkey, blinking down with curious amber eyes. It was smaller than she had imagined, and far less elusive once it spotted the bun in Ping's hand. With one neat leap, it snatched the snack and vanished into the green.
Ping stared at his empty fingers. Jianhua lowered the camera, laughing. The shutter had clicked, just once, on a perfectly framed thief.
Word Definition
elusive
meaning
difficult to find, catch, or achieve
synonyms
evasive · slippery · ambiguous · tricky · mysterious
antonyms
attainable · obtainable · understandable
example sentence
The elusive thief was never caught by the police.