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involve

[in-volv]
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verb (used with object), in·volved, in·volv·ing.
  1. to include as a necessary circumstance, condition, or consequence; imply; entail: This job involves long hours and hard work.
  2. to engage or employ.
  3. to affect, as something within the scope of operation.
  4. to include, contain, or comprehend within itself or its scope.
  5. to bring into an intricate or complicated form or condition.
  6. to bring into difficulties (usually followed by with): a plot to involve one nation in a war with another.
  7. to cause to be troublesomely associated or concerned, as in something embarrassing or unfavorable: Don't involve me in your quarrel!
  8. to combine inextricably (usually followed by with).
  9. to implicate, as in guilt or crime, or in any matter or affair.
  10. to engage the interests or emotions or commitment of: to become involved in the disarmament movement; to become involved with another woman.
  11. to preoccupy or absorb fully (usually used passively or reflexively): You are much too involved with the problem to see it clearly.
  12. to envelop or enfold, as if with a wrapping.
  13. to swallow up, engulf, or overwhelm.
    1. Archaic.to roll, surround, or shroud, as in a wrapping.
    2. to roll up on itself; wind spirally; coil; wreathe.
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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
Related formsin·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, nouno·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

Synonyms

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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.

Antonyms

7. extricate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

provesuggestengagecommitassociateembroilrequirecontaincovercatchlinkconnectrelatemeanaffectholdimplicatecompriseconcernincorporate

Examples from the Web for involve

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • They seem to involve the bore of a climb without the pleasure of a peak.

    Alarms and Discursions

    G. K. Chesterton

  • The least delay may involve his being rescued by the rioters.'

    Barnaby Rudge

    Charles Dickens

  • The beautiful Norman's idea was to involve him in some quarrel or other.

  • Certainly, the same principle holds; but why does this involve any particular skill?

  • It is no part of my duty to involve others in this confession.

    The Manxman

    Hall Caine

British Dictionary definitions for involve

involve

verb (tr)
  1. to include or contain as a necessary partthe task involves hard work
  2. to have an effect on; spread tothe investigation involved many innocent people
  3. (often passive; usually foll by in or with) to concern or associate significantlymany people were involved in the crime
  4. (often passive) to make complicated; tanglethe situation was further involved by her disappearance
  5. rare, often poetic to wrap or surround
  6. maths obsolete to raise to a specified power
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Derived Formsinvolvement, nouninvolver, noun

Word Origin

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

Word Origin and History for involve

v.

late 14c., "envelop, surround," from Latin involvere "envelop, surround, overwhelm," literally "roll into," from in- "in" (see in- (2)) + volvere "to roll" (see volvox). Originally "envelop, surround," sense of "take in, include" first recorded c.1600. Related: Involved; Involving.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with involve

involve

see get involved with.

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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.