Skip to main content
to involve

to involve

3.0
Be connected with a crime or something that causes serious trouble
  • verb
  • /ɪnˈvɑlv/
translation icon : implicar
  • Large private and public institutions first became involved in providing overseas opportunities for their students during the 1960s.
  • cases involving
  • individuals involved

So that's where the mob gets involved with drugs.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • But I don't believe that we should be involved in a land war.

  • Do you think he was involved in that crime in some way?

  • So, do you think she could be involved in his murder?

  • - Well, we believe he might have been involved with this.

  • One, why are we so involved in that conflict?

  • Perhaps I should never have got involved.

  • The extent to which he was involved in the writing is controversial.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Are any of your students' parents involved in areas of business that involve grant seeking or awarding?

    Academic text (2011)
  • Now how did human beings come to be involved in this catastrophe?

  • The investigation revealed that she was involved in money laundering activities.

Synonyms

to implicate
vsto involve
41 6.9

Make something else necessary or cause it to happen

is a close association that may imply guilt or serious outcome
to implicate in
vsto involve
40 6.6

Show that someone is involved in a crime

is a close link that can be noncriminal or have other consequences
to tangle
vsto involve
37 6.0

To involve someone in a difficult situation, often without meaning to

is a close connection that can be intentional and not accidental
to embroil
vsto involve
22 7.7

To bring someone deeply into an argument or serious problem

is a close link that need not be a deep conflict

Antonyms

1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

82 5.3

To stop being part of or connected to something

How Involved

to implicate
82 7.2
to involve
3.0
to connect
354 2.3
to associate
364 3.4
to relate
317 2.2

Surface Forms

involve infinitive
involved past
involved past participle
involving present participle
involves third person singular

Morphology

involve = in + volve

Opaque because the root 'volve' is not a standalone English word and the Latin prefix 'in-' does not yield a transparently compositional meaning for typical learners.

Etymology

Involve comes from Latin in- 'in' and volvere 'to roll'. A helpful way to remember it is to picture a person 'rolled into' an event and so tightly wrapped up that they cannot escape. So, to involve someone can mean they are closely connected to a situation, even in a way that brings real trouble.