allusion

See also: Allusion

English

Etymology

From Latin allūsiōnem, accusative singular of allūsiō (“the act of playing with”), from allūdō (“play with; allude”), from al-, combining form of ad (“to”), + lūdō (“play”): compare French allusion.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈlu.ʒən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːʒən

Noun

allusion (countable and uncountable, plural allusions)

1. An indirect reference; a hint; a reference to something supposed to be known, but not explicitly mentioned.
   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), pages 226–227:

     I remember, before the Dwarf left the Queen, he followed us one day into thoſe gardens, and my Nurſe having ſet me down, he and I being cloſe together, near ſome Dwarf Apple trees, I muſt need ſhew my Wit, by a ſilly Alluſion between him and the Trees, which happens to hold in their Language as it doth in ours.

   • 1835, Joseph Smith, Jr., Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate:

     We draw the conclusion then, that the very reason why the multitude, or the world, as they were designated by the Savior, did not receive an explanation upon his parables, was, because of unbelief. To you, he says, (speaking to his disciples) it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: and why? because of the faith and confidence which they had in him. This parable was spoken to demonstrate the effects that are produced by the preaching of the word; and we believe that it has an allusion directly, to the commencement, or the setting up of the kingdom in that age […]

   • 2014, Kathleen Kuiper [editor], Classical Authors: 500 BCE to 1100 CE:

     The influence of Lucretius on Virgil was pervasive, especially in Virgil's Georgics; and it is in clear allusion to Lucretius that Virgil wrote, “Happy is the man who can read the causes of things.”

Related terms

• allude

Translations

indirect reference, hint

• Arabic: تَلْمِيح m (talmīḥ)
• Armenian: ակնարկ (hy) (aknark)
• Azerbaijani: eyham (az)
• Belarusian: намёк m (namjók), алю́зія f (aljúzija)
• Bulgarian: на́мек (bg) m (námek), зага́тване (bg) n (zagátvane), алю́зия (bg) f (aljúzija)
• Catalan: al·lusió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 暗指 (zh) (ànzhǐ), 含義／含义 (zh) (hányì), 寓意 (zh) (yùyì)

• Czech: aluze f
• Danish: hentydning c
• Dutch: allusie (nl) f, toespeling (nl) f, zinspeling (nl) f
• Esperanto: aludo
• Finnish: alluusio, viittaus (fi), vihje (fi)
• French: allusion (fr) f
• Galician: alusión (gl) f
• German: Anspielung (de) f, Allusion f
• Greek: νύξη (el) f (nýxi), υπαινιγμός (el) m (ypainigmós)
• Hungarian: utalás (hu)
• Indonesian: kiasan (id), alusi (id)
• Irish: ailléideach m (literary)
• Italian: allusione (it) f
• Japanese: 仄めかし (ほのめかし, honomekashi), 暗示 (ja) (あんじ, anji)
• Korean: 암시(暗示) (ko) (amsi)
• Latvian: alūzija (lv) f, mājiens m
• Luxembourgish: Allusioun f
• Macedonian: алузија f (aluzija)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: allusjon (no) m, hentydning m or f

• Persian: تلمیح (fa) (talmih)
• Polish: aluzja (pl) f
• Portuguese: alusão (pt) f
• Romanian: aluzie (ro) f
• Russian: аллю́зия (ru) f (alljúzija), намёк (ru) m (namjók)
• Scottish Gaelic: iomradh m, luaidh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: а̀лӯзија f

  Roman: àlūzija (sh) f

• Slovak: alúzia f
• Slovene: aluzija f
• Spanish: alusión (es)
• Sundanese: ᮞᮤᮔ᮪ᮓᮤᮁ (sindir)
• Swedish: allusion (sv) c, anspelning (sv) c
• Tagalog: alusyon, patayutay, parunggit
• Turkish: gönderme (tr)
• Ukrainian: на́тяк m (nátjak), алю́зія f (aljúzija)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin allūsiōnem (“frolicking”), from allūdō (“to frolic”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ly.zjɔ̃/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

allusion f (plural allusions)

1. allusion, innuendo

   En parlant ainsi, il faisait allusion aux mœurs de son temps. ― In speaking thus, he was making an allusion to the mores of his time.

Derived terms

• faire allusion

Further reading

• “allusion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.