involve
Americanverb (used with object)
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to include as a necessary circumstance, condition, or consequence; imply; entail.
This job involves long hours and hard work.
- Synonyms:
- demand, require, necessitate
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to engage or employ.
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to affect, as something within the scope of operation.
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to include, contain, or comprehend within itself or its scope.
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to bring into an intricate or complicated form or condition.
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to bring into difficulties (usually followed bywith ).
The investigation discovered a plot to involve one nation in a war with another.
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to cause to be troublesomely associated or concerned, as in something embarrassing or unfavorable.
Don't involve me in your quarrel!
- Antonyms:
- extricate
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to combine inextricably (usually followed bywith ).
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to implicate, as in guilt or crime, or in any matter or affair.
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to engage the interests or emotions or commitment of.
The professor involved many students in the disarmament movement.
Her husband became involved with another woman.
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to preoccupy or absorb fully (usually used passively or reflexively).
You are much too involved with the problem to see it clearly.
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to envelop or enfold, as if with a wrapping.
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to swallow up, engulf, or overwhelm.
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Archaic. to roll, surround, or shroud, as in a wrapping.
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to roll up on itself; wind spirally; coil; wreathe.
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verb
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to include or contain as a necessary part
the task involves hard work
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to have an effect on; spread to
the investigation involved many innocent people
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(often passive; usually foll by in or with) to concern or associate significantly
many people were involved in the crime
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(often passive) to make complicated; tangle
the situation was further involved by her disappearance
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rare to wrap or surround
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obsolete maths to raise to a specified power
Synonym Usage
Involve, entangle, implicate imply getting a person connected or bound up with something from which it is difficult to be freed. To involve is to bring more or less deeply into something, especially of a complicated, embarrassing, or troublesome nature: I'd rather not to involve someone else in my debt. To entangle (usually passive or reflexive) is to involve so deeply in a tangle as to confuse and make helpless: The candidate tended to entangle himself in a mass of contradictory statements. To implicate is to connect a person with something discreditable or wrong: She was implicated in a plot to assassinate the governor.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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involvesimple
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involvessimple
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have involvedperfect
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has involvedperfect
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are involvingprogressive
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am involvingprogressive
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is involvingprogressive
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have been involvingperfect progressive
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has been involvingperfect progressive
Past
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involvedsimple
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had involvedperfect
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was involvingprogressive
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were involvingprogressive
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had been involvingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of involve
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English involven, from Latin involvere “to roll in or up,” equivalent to in- in- 2 + volvere “to roll”; see revolve
Explanation
To involve means to connect. When you get involved in the Spanish Club, you attend meetings and events. If doing math well is involved in understanding advanced chemistry, that means it's a necessary part of it. When someone is very involved, it means they are engaged or connected to a lot of activities. When someone is self-involved, all they connect with is him or herself. If getting ice cream involves walking a mile to the ice cream shop, the exercise offsets the indulgence. When no exercise is involved, it's less healthy.
Vocabulary lists containing involve
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 5
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The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It has been organised by local councillors, North East Lincolnshire Council's public health team, along with the East Marsh Involve community group.
From BBC • May 1, 2025
Involve communities in developing water governance can prevent conflicts during times of scarcity -- joint risk assessments, improved public communication, and citizen science help to foster transparency and build trust.
From Science Daily • Nov. 29, 2024
Involve your family and friends in your decision-making and planning; talk to your partner to come up with a shared vision for the holidays; talk to your kids about how and why things are changing.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 5, 2023
Involve the children: If kids don’t like a particular food at home, Hirsch writes, there’s not much point in trying to get them to eat it for lunch on their own.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 4, 2021
Involve me in what snares, what conspiracies you will, give me what share you please in any guilt, but spare me the degradation of such a shame!'
From Maurice Tiernay Soldier of Fortune by Lever, Charles James
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
