An allusion is a reference to something that avoids mentioning the thing directly. Allusion may also describe the use of such a statement or the act of alluding to something.

// The lyrics contain biblical allusions.

// They made allusion to their first marriage, but said nothing more about it.

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“The Rings of Power is full of echoes and allusions to the original [Lord of the Rings] trilogy.” — James Grebey, Vulture, 4 Oct. 2024

An allusion is not a play on words—that would be a pun—but allusion does come from the Latin verb allūdere, which in turn combines the verb lūdere, meaning “play,” with the prefix ad-, which can mean “to,” “toward,” or “near.” One way of thinking about an allusion—an indirect reference, especially (though not exclusively) as used in literature—is that it “plays toward or around” something rather than naming it directly. For example, Picnic, Lightning, the title of a book by poet Billy Collins, is an allusion to a line from Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita. This allusion—like most—works on the assumption that there is a body of knowledge shared by the author and reader and that therefore the reader will understand the reference. Don’t be misled by the similar pronunciation and spelling of allusion and illusion, however. You wouldn’t be the first, but the latter—which also comes from lūdere—refers to something that is visually or otherwise misleading.