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
Related Words
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
- interinvolve verb (used with object)
- involvement noun
- involver noun
- overinvolve verb (used with object)
- preinvolve verb (used with object)
- reinvolve verb (used with object)
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”; revolve
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.
A former commander of a pararescue jumpers squadron told CBS News that a rescue operation like the reported one in Iran would involve at least 24 pararescue jumpers scouring the area in Black Hawk helicopters.
From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026
Deal makers gain advantage through strategies that don’t necessarily involve transparency and forthrightness.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026
Military operations are more complex than many people think, especially if they involve invading a hostile country and there aren’t many accessible bases in surrounding countries.
From Slate • Apr. 1, 2026
Put spreads involve the simultaneous purchase and sale of put options with the same expiry but different strike prices.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 1, 2026
Making this happen will involve taking risks, particularly a willingness to change our attitudes and actions.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
