Involve Definition & Meaning

American

British

Idioms

Related Words

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms involve American [in-volv] / ɪnˈvɒlv /

verb (used with object)

involved, involving

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

   This job involves long hours and hard work.

   Synonyms: demand, require, necessitate

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 bywith ).

   The investigation discovered 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!

   Antonyms: extricate

8. to combine inextricably (usually followed bywith ).

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

10. 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.

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.

14. 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

1. to include or contain as a necessary part

   the task involves hard work

2. to have an effect on; spread to

   the investigation involved many innocent people

3. (often passive; usually foll by in or with) to concern or associate significantly

   many people were involved in the crime

4. (often passive) to make complicated; tangle

   the situation was further involved by her disappearance

5. rare to wrap or surround

6. 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

1. see get involved with.

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.

Wu of Fudan University said this could take place after US-China talks in Europe, if officials wanted to avoid complications from involving business leaders too soon in the process.

From Barron's

Buyers and sellers may have been prepared for the down payments and borrowing costs involved in the purchase of a home.

From MarketWatch

The Academy Awards, which is rebooting in 2029 with a move from ABC to YouTube, isn’t expected to involve sponsored prediction market tie-ins Sunday.

From The Wall Street Journal

During the trial, the court heard that social services had been involved with the Wixon family in the late 1990s, but there were no records of any other contact since.

From BBC

The players were a close-knit team when they arrived in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup, a quadrennial tournament involving 12 teams from the region.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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

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.