allusiveness.

The tendency or quality of referring indirectly to other texts, events or ideas.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• literary allusiveness
• allusiveness of a passage

On the page

Literary allusiveness linked the passage to earlier stories without naming them.

The allusiveness of the passage rewarded readers who recognized the altered phrases.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: style analysis, interpretation, characterization, rhetorical contrast. Disciplines: literary analysis, prose writing, advanced general English. Commonness: uncommon.