involve

[in-volv]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR involve ON THESAURUS.COM

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.

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 for involve

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR involve ON THESAURUS.COM

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 for involve

7. extricate.

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

Related Words for involve

prove, suggest, engage, commit, associate, embroil, require, contain, cover, catch, link, connect, relate, mean, affect, hold, implicate, comprise, concern, incorporate

Examples from the Web for involve

Contemporary Examples of 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
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
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
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
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

Historical Examples of involve

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.
The Fat and the Thin
Emile Zola
Certainly, the same principle holds; but why does this involve any particular skill?
The Republic
Plato
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)

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 Formsinvolvement, 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

Word Origin and History for involve

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.

Idioms and Phrases with involve

involve

see get involved with.