involve
/ɪnˈvɑlv/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.28 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To cause or engage (someone or something) to become connected or implicated, or to participate, in some activity or situation.
Transitive verb
verb
To cause or engage (someone or something) to become connected or implicated, or to participate, in some activity or situation.
Transitive verb
verb
To entangle, intertwine, or mingle (something with one or more other things, or several things together); especially, to entangle (someone or something) in a confusing or troublesome situation.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "My job involves forecasting economic trends."
- "But there remaineth yet another vſe of POESY PARABOLICAL, […] That is vvhen the Secrets and Miſteries of Religion, Pollicy, or Philoſophy, are inuolued in Fables or Parables. Of this in diuine Poeſie, vvee ſee the vſe is authoriſed."
- "Some have vvritten Myſtically, as Paracelſus, […] involving therein the ſecret of their Elixir, and enigmatically expreſſing the nature of their great vvorke."
- "The Opinion of the pure and intellectual Nature of Numbers in Abſtract, has made 'em in eſteem vvith thoſe Philoſophers, […] And hath heretofore ſo far infected the Minds of ſome, that they have dreamt of mighty Myſteries involved in Numbers, and attempted the Explication of Natural Things by them."
- "Most persons express themselves as surprised at its quantity; not having known before to what an extent good art had been accumulated in England: and it will, therefore, I should think, be held a worthy subject of consideration, what are the political interests involved in such accumulation."
- "The face which emerged was not reassuring. […] [T]here was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls."
Etymology
PIE word *h₁én From Late Middle English involven (“to cloud; to encumber; to envelop, surround; to ponder (something); (reflexive) to concern (oneself) with something”) [and other forms], borrowed from Old French involver, envoudre, or from its etymon Latin involvere, the present active infinitive of Latin involvō (“to roll to or upon something; to roll about; to coil or curl up; to cover; to envelop, wrap up; to overwhelm”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + volvō (“to roll; to tumble”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn; to wind (turn coils)”)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪnˈvɑlv/
- British English: /ɪnˈvɒlv/
Usage
Inflected Forms
involves (present, singular)
involving (participle, present)
involved (participle, past)
involved (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
involved (first person, past)
involvest (archaic, present)
involved (past, second person)
involvedst (archaic, past)
involveth (archaic, present)
involved (past, singular)