Synonyms

involve

American

[in-volv] / ɪnˈvɒlv /

verb (used with object)

to include as a necessary circumstance, condition, or consequence; imply; entail.

This job involves long hours and hard work.

Synonyms:

demand, require, necessitate
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 bywith ).

The investigation discovered 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!

Antonyms:

extricate
to combine inextricably (usually followed bywith ).
to implicate, as in guilt or crime, or in any matter or affair.
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.
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.
1. Archaic. to roll, surround, or shroud, as in a wrapping.
2. to roll up on itself; wind spirally; coil; wreathe.

involve British

/ ɪnˈvɒlv /

verb

to include or contain as a necessary part

the task involves hard work
to have an effect on; spread to

the investigation involved many innocent people
(often passive; usually foll by in or with) to concern or associate significantly

many people were involved in the crime
(often passive) to make complicated; tangle

the situation was further involved by her disappearance
rare to wrap or surround
obsolete maths to raise to a specified power

"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

involve Idioms

see get involved with.

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

Past

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.

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Vocabulary lists containing involve

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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.

See Examples For:

involve involves involved involving

And anybody who has ever worked in a customer-facing job knows that hospitality, particularly of the relentlessly sunny variety, can involve a tremendous amount of emotional labor.

From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026

Instead, the condition could involve several distinct patterns of brain function.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 9, 2026

"Unsolved cases involve real victims, grieving families and investigators working to secure answers," the statement added.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

“Unsolved cases involve real victims, grieving families and investigators working to secure answers,” the department said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

Although I wanted a miracle in school, and knew full well that the miracle should somehow involve academic study, in reality I spent my time reading.

From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers

A “bond-tent strategy” involves gradually exposing your portfolio’s allocation to bonds in the years leading up to retirement, keeping a higher bond allocation early after retiring and gradually lowering that exposure later.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026

One possibility involves the body's mechanisms for regulating vitamin D. When concentrations of vitamin D metabolites rise, the body may accelerate the breakdown and removal of these compounds to keep levels under control.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026

This approach to weather modification, now more than 80-years-old, involves using planes and drones to disperse compounds such as silver iodide into clouds to form ice crystals.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

Further, “lethal injection involves individuals with health care training, giving it a sheen of modernity, technological advancement, even sophistication.”

From Slate ● Oct. 7, 2026

Third, experimentation involves both a study of the external world and a capacity to generalize.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

SAL said it has a responsibility to safeguard both the singer’s legacy and the people involved in maintaining it.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026

O’Donnell is working to align everyone involved in Nascar races—team owners, track owners, media partners, car manufacturers and sponsors—around a growth plan called Project 2032.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

This involved the oligarch's huge business fortune - more than $10bn - held by a company called Electus Investments in Cyprus.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

The United States, which is not a party to the biodiversity convention, is not involved in the talks.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

He knew from Doc that his mother had regretted getting involved with the military, and that she and her family had had a terrible falling out.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

Later, Jost returned to the Weekend Update desk, opening with what he called a “tragic developing story” involving Trump.

From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026

But residents on Okinawa, where any crimes involving US forces have long inflamed criticism of the troops' presence, told AFP of their frustration and anger in the wake of another alleged incident.

From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026

Asos said it was investigating "unauthorised activity" involving third-party platforms.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Anthropic’s model was conducting a test involving interactions with randomly selected websites when it submitted the tip pretending to be someone who might have information about an unsolved case, police said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

We went to church only rarely now, mostly because it had become such a spectacle, involving reporters shouting questions as we walked in to worship.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023