involve

[ in-volv ]

/ ɪnˈvɒlv /

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verb (used with object), in·volved, in·volv·ing.

to include as a necessary circumstance, condition, or consequence; imply; entail: This job involves long hours and hard work.

to engage or employ.

to affect, as something within the scope of operation.

to include, contain, or comprehend within itself or its scope.

to bring into an intricate or complicated form or condition.

to bring into difficulties (usually followed by with): a plot to involve one nation in a war with another.

to cause to be troublesomely associated or concerned, as in something embarrassing or unfavorable: Don't involve me in your quarrel!

to combine inextricably (usually followed by with).

to implicate, as in guilt or crime, or in any matter or affair.

to engage the interests or emotions or commitment of: to become involved in the disarmament movement; to become involved with another woman.

to preoccupy or absorb fully (usually used passively or reflexively): You are much too involved with the problem to see it clearly.

to envelop or enfold, as if with a wrapping.

to swallow up, engulf, or overwhelm.

Archaic. to roll, surround, or shroud, as in a wrapping.
to roll up on itself; wind spirally; coil; wreathe.

Nearby words

involuted, involution, involutional, involutional melancholia, involutional psychosis, involve, involved, invt., invulnerable, invultuation, inwale

Origin of involve

1350–1400; Middle English involven < Latin involvere to roll in or up, equivalent to in- in-² + volvere to roll; see revolve

SYNONYMS FOR involve

1 necessitate, require, demand.

6, 7, 9 Involve, entangle, implicate imply getting a person connected or bound up with something from which it is difficult to extricate himself or herself. To involve is to bring more or less deeply into something, especially of a complicated, embarrassing, or troublesome nature: to involve someone in debt. To entangle (usually passive or reflexive) is to involve so deeply in a tangle as to confuse and make helpless: to entangle oneself in a mass of contradictory statements. To implicate is to connect a person with something discreditable or wrong: implicated in a plot.

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ANTONYMS FOR involve

7 extricate.

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Related forms

in·volve·ment, nounin·volv·er, nounin·ter·in·volve, verb (used with object), in·ter·in·volved, in·ter·in·volv·ing.non·in·volve·ment, noun

o·ver·in·volve, verb (used with object), o·ver·in·volved, o·ver·in·volv·ing.pre·in·volve, verb (used with object), pre·in·volved, pre·in·volv·ing.pre·in·volve·ment, nounre·in·volve, verb (used with object), re·in·volved, re·in·volv·ing.re·in·volve·ment, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for involve

And U.S. lawmakers are pushing to involve China in any retaliation against the Sony hack.
Obama Could Hit China to Punish North Korea|Shane Harris, Tim Mak|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He tells the cops and testifies at trial that Adnan threatened to hurt Stephanie or get her involve if he went to police.
The Scoop on ‘Serial’: Making Sense of The Nisha Call, Asia's Letters, and Our Obsession|Emily Shire|December 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Is this in any way going to involve us in getting us in there and getting us tied down there?
‘Argo’ in the Congo: The Ghosts of the Stanleyville Hostage Crisis|Nina Strochlic|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This year, Kalac was arrested for domestic violence in a case that apparently did not involve Coplin.
Did the Amber Lynn Coplin Murder Photos Sicken the Creeps of 4Chan?|Michael Daly|November 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Markets break people out of one kind of intimate intrusion, then involve them in another, in which work tells you who to be.
Why Your Waiter Hates You|Jedediah Purdy|October 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It is better to make a direct statement in the affirmative if possible, than to involve it in negatives.
The Lure of the Pen|Flora Klickmann
It might involve the Democracy to answer them either way, and they go unanswered.
The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Volume Two|Abraham Lincoln
Life, to be true, must involve all the functions of the soul—thought, emotion and will; must be lived with a healthy fulness.
Cleo The Magnificent|Louis Zangwill
By this infraction of the treaty, they also involve themselves in a war with Rome.
The History of Rome, Books 37 to the End|Titus Livius
On the other hand, he did not wish to involve her in justifying his action to the world.
Robert Orange|John Oliver Hobbes

British Dictionary definitions for involve

involve

/ (ɪnˈvɒlv) /

verb (tr)

to include or contain as a necessary partthe task involves hard work

to have an effect on; spread tothe investigation involved many innocent people

(often passive; usually foll by in or with) to concern or associate significantlymany people were involved in the crime

(often passive) to make complicated; tanglethe situation was further involved by her disappearance

rare, often poetic to wrap or surround

maths obsolete to raise to a specified power

Derived Forms

involvement, nouninvolver, noun

Word Origin for involve

C14: from Latin involvere to roll in, surround, from in- ² + volvere to roll

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with involve

involve

see get involved with.