How to Use allusion in a Sentence

allusion

noun
  • She made allusion to her first marriage.
  • The lyrics contain biblical allusions.
  • The finale also makes some allusions to things to come.
    — Andrew McGowan, Variety, 15 Dec. 2025
  • The Dune allusions are based on the sheer amount of dust and sweat resting atop her skin.
    — Vulture, 31 Jan. 2024
  • Fans were quick to notice the allusion in the March 9 post.
    — Marina Watts, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Mar. 2026
  • Jacobs-Jenkins came to think that that coy allusion was a bad idea.
    — Adam Moss, Vulture, 30 May 2025
  • Three different rallies so far this week, and not a word, not any allusion to it at all.
    — AJC.com, 17 Dec. 2016
  • Lego aficionados or those who grew up with the sets will likely spy many an allusion to past toys.
    — Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 2026
  • The name, as legend has it, was an allusion to the club cars of Pullman trains.
    — Liza Weisstuch, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Oct. 2020
  • But that's not the only allusion to Miley’s past in the video.
    — Sara Delgado, Teen Vogue, 30 Nov. 2018
  • Those messages included a mix of memes and allusions to video games.
    — Cnn.com Wire Service, Mercury News, 15 Sep. 2025
  • However, those lyrics could be seen as an allusion to Styles, too.
    — Alyssa Bailey, ELLE, 21 Oct. 2022
  • The song starts off strong with an allusion to the king of pop, Michael Jackson.
    — Samantha Olson, Seventeen, 21 May 2021
  • But beyond the allusion to chaos, the beer itself seems pretty great.
    — Sammy Nickalls, Esquire, 4 Feb. 2017
  • But its use of Christian allusions didn't sit right in some schools, either.
    — refinery29.com, 7 Mar. 2018
  • As the disease spread across the globe, the battle allusions followed.
    — Yasmeen Serhan, The Atlantic, 31 Mar. 2020
  • In part this is a function of Sebald’s use of allusion and collage.
    — Ben Lerner, The New York Review of Books, 25 Feb. 2021
  • The sticks that protrude are enclosed in glass bell jars, a cheeky allusion to taxidermy displays.
    — Catherine Romano, WSJ, 26 Oct. 2018
  • Friends often sent Winslet cards with that very photograph, a winky allusion to her own body.
    — Esther Zuckerman, TIME, 12 Sep. 2024
  • In an allusion to its brief life span, Aristotle dubbed the insect ephemeron.
    — Robert O'Harrow Jr., Washington Post, 19 Sep. 2022
  • But how do these allusions to the Garden relate to a belief in magic?
    — Ron Charles, Washington Post, 17 Aug. 2023
  • Guggenheim donned a crown rimmed with forks, an allusion to the uselessness of cutlery in a time of little food.
    — Valli Herman, Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2023
  • Grail’s name is an allusion to this search, which researchers have compared to the quest for the Holy Grail.
    — Mike Freeman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Apr. 2021
  • For Anderson, the allusion to lynching wasn't just a metaphor.
    — John Blake, CNN, 17 Aug. 2019
  • The show's title refers to the props, but there's also that fairytale allusion to vanity.
    — Laura Regensdorf, Vogue, 4 July 2018
  • The film is not pretentious about its literary allusions though.
    — Caryn James, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2025
  • The messages on the bullet casings also included a mix of memes and allusions to video games.
    — Dalia Faheid, CNN Money, 14 Sep. 2025
  • The question is whether today’s crop of English majors will spot the allusion.
    — Sam Sacks, WSJ, 9 Aug. 2018
  • The company’s name is an allusion to that search, which many have compared to the quest for the Holy Grail.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Apr. 2021
  • The title was an allusion to the biblical tale of Adam and Eve and the tree of knowledge.
    — Timothy McLaughlin, The Atlantic, 6 Jan. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'allusion.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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