Library / English Dictionary

INVOLVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make complex or intricate or complicated

Example:

The situation was rather involved

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "involve" is one way to...):

complicate; elaborate; rarify; refine (make more complex, intricate, or richer)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Occupy or engage the interest of

Example:

His story completely involved me during the entire afternoon

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "involve" is one way to...):

absorb; engage; engross; occupy (consume all of one's attention or time)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

involvement (a sense of concern with and curiosity about someone or something)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Require as useful, just, or proper

Example:

This intervention does not postulate a patient's consent

Synonyms:

ask; call for; demand; involve; necessitate; need; postulate; require; take

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Verb group:

claim; exact; take (take as an undesirable consequence of some event or state of affairs)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "involve"):

claim; exact; take (take as an undesirable consequence of some event or state of affairs)

govern (require to be in a certain grammatical case, voice, or mood)

draw (require a specified depth for floating)

cost (require to lose, suffer, or sacrifice)

cry for; cry out for (need badly or desperately)

compel (necessitate or exact)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Contain as a part

Example:

Dinner at Joe's always involves at least six courses

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "involve" is one way to...):

include (have as a part, be made up out of)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Have as a necessary feature

Example:

This decision involves many changes

Synonyms:

imply; involve

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "involve" is one way to...):

feature; have (have as a feature)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "involve"):

carry (be necessarily associated with or result in or involve)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

involvement (a connection of inclusion or containment)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Connect closely and often incriminatingly

Example:

This new ruling affects your business

Synonyms:

affect; involve; regard

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "involve" is one way to...):

bear on; come to; concern; have to do with; pertain; refer; relate; touch; touch on (be relevant to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "involve"):

implicate (bring into intimate and incriminating connection)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

involvement (a connection of inclusion or containment)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Engage as a participant

Example:

Don't involve me in your family affairs!

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "involve" is one way to...):

admit; include; let in (allow participation in or the right to be part of; permit to exercise the rights, functions, and responsibilities of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "involve"):

drag; drag in; embroil; sweep; sweep up; tangle (force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of action)

entangle; mire (entrap)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Derivation:

involution; involvement (the act of sharing in the activities of a group)

involvement (the condition of sharing in common with others (as fellows or partners etc.))

Credits

 Context examples: 

This gene is involved in multi-drug resistance, antigen presentation and is postulated to play a role in mitochondrial function.

(ABCB6 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

This allele, which encodes multidrug resistance-associated protein 1, is involved in multispecific organic anion transport.

(ABCC1 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

This gene plays a role in multi-drug resistance and is involved in blood-brain barrier transport.

(ABCB1 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

Such, in a few words, my dear boy, is the history of this terrible business in which I was involved.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He knew that I would do what I said—that his own fate was involved in mine.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This allele, which encodes protein AATF, may be involved in both the suppression of apoptosis and transcriptional regulation.

(AATF wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

This gene is involved in bile metabolism.

(ABCC3 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

Leach had evidently done his task with a thoroughness that Mugridge had not forgiven, for words followed and evil names involving smirched ancestries.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Consider what is involved by your theory.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But now entered Hans, and she saw that his sanity and his salvation were involved.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)