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“Elicit” or “Illicit”

elicit / illicit are similar-sounding terms with different meanings (referred to as homophones). To better understand the differences, see below for definitions, pronunciation guides, and example sentences using each term.

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Definitions

What each term means

Same sound, different spellings and meanings, shown with a pronunciation guide for each term.

elicit ih·l·IH·s·ih·t

  • verbderive by reason.

illicit ih·l·IH·s·ah·t

  • adjectivecontrary to accepted morality (especially sexual morality) or convention.
Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“elicit”

  • …guidance to teachers is to elicit students' ideas as part of…
  • …MRI is usually performed to elicit whether there is a structural…
  • To better elicit a more emotional response with…
  • …field examination, the physician may elicit an enlarged blind spot; the…

“illicit”

  • …punishing political offenders, political henchmen, illicit fortune amassers and high-ranking officials…
  • Illicit drugs:
  • The Illicit Happiness of Other People
  • The Illicit Happiness of Other People is…
  • …cocaine shipments; minor producer of illicit opium poppy and cannabis for…
  • …organizations (see also North Korea's illicit activities)Jongro street gang
  • …debate over the use of illicit drugs.
  • …it the right to seize illicit editions and bar the publication…
  • The team also receives some illicit behind-the-scenes help from black county…
  • …in NSW by providing lucrative illicit criminal distribution networks for the…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license. Definitions are drawn from WordNet.

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