involve

Verb

1. To have (something) as a component or a related part; to comprise, to include.
   • 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...
   • Some have vvritten Myſtically, as Paracelſus, […] involving therein the ſecret of their Elixir, and enigmatically expreſſing the nature of their great vvorke. - 1646, Thomas Browne, “Of the Phænix”, in Pseudodoxia...

   Synonyms: comprehend

   1. (specifically) To include (something) as a logical or natural, or necessary component, or consequence or effect of something else; to entail, to imply.

      • Many conceive there is ſomevvhat amiſſe, and that as vve uſually ſay, they are unbleſt untill they put on their girdle: vvherein (although moſt knovv not vvhat they ſay) there are involved unknovvne conſiderations; for...
      • [A]t the making of this Covenant, God ſpake onely to Abraham; and therefore contracted not vvith any of his family, or ſeed, othervviſe then as their vvills (vvhich make the eſſence of all Covenants) vvere before the...
      • All that I can ſay is this, That vve are not infallible either in judging of the antiquity of a Book, or of the ſenſe of it; by vvhich I mean (as any man of ſenſe and ingenuity vvould eaſily perceive I do) that vve...

      Synonyms: comprehend

2. To cause or engage (someone or something) to become connected or implicated, or to participate, in some activity or situation.
   • By involving herself in her local community, Mary met lots of people and also helped make it a nicer place to live.
   • How can we involve the audience more during the show?
   • I don’t want to involve him in my personal affairs.

   Synonyms: include

   1. (specifically, also reflexive, chiefly passive voice) Chiefly followed by with: to engage (someone or oneself) in an emotional or sexual relationship.

      Synonyms: include

3. 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.
   • to involve a person in debt or misery
   • Also that reuerende studie [of law] is inuolued in so barbarouse a langage, that it is nat only voyde of all eloquence, but also beynge seperate from the exercise of our lawe onely, it serueth to no commoditie or...
   • [O]ld Œdipus / Would be amazd, and take it in foule snufs / That such Cymerian darknes should involve / A quaint conceit that he could not resolve. - 1598, John Marston, “The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image and...

   Synonyms: blend ensnarl implicate merge admix amalgamate bemingle combine commingle intermingle intermix involve mang meddle ming mingle mix mix up enmesh ensnare entangle foul imply mat

4. To cover or envelop (something) completely; to hide, to surround.
   • to involve in darkness or obscurity
   • [T]he vviſe mans eyes keepe vvatch in his head vvhereas the foole roundeth about in darkneſſe: but vvithall I learned that the ſame mortalitie inuolueth them both. - 1605, Francis Bacon, “The First Booke”, in The Twoo...
   • For vvhatſoever the vviſeſt men in the vvorld in all nations, and religions did agree upon as moſt excellent in it ſelf, and of greateſt povver to make politicall, or future and immateriall felicities, all that and much...

   Synonyms: enfold enwrap swallow up

5. To form (something) into a coil or spiral, or into folds; to entwine, to fold up, to roll, to wind round.
   • VVe muſt be ſtiffe and ſteddie in reſolue. / Let's thus our hands, our hearts, our armes inuolue. - 1600 or 1601 (date written), I. M. [i.e., John Marston], Antonios Reuenge. The Second Part. […], London: […] [Richard...
   • [S]ome of Serpent kinde / Wondrous in length and corpulence involv'd / Thir Snakie foulds, and added wings. - 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by...
   • The forms which peopled this terrific trance / I well remember—like a choir of devils, / Around me they involved a giddy dance; / Legions seemed gathering from the misty levels / Of Ocean, to supply those ceaseless...
6. To make (something) intricate; to complicate.
   • And as wililye as thoſe ſhrewes that beguyle hym haue holpe hym to inuolue and intryke the matter: I ſhall vſe ſo playn and open a way therin, that euery man ſhall well ſee the trouth. - 1533 (date written), Thomas...
   • [H]e ſeemed rather vvilling to diſpatch the buſines vvith judgement, then to involue it vvith nice diſtinctions. - 1635, George Hakewill, “Wherein the Objections Brought in Behalfe of the Romanes Touching Their...
   • The distribution and configuration of the land, together with the influence of the winds, greatly involve the problem of the tides, and render it one of the most difficult in the whole range of physics. - 1848, Thomas...
7. To multiply (a number) by itself a given number of times; to raise to any assigned power.
   • a quantity involved to the third or fourth power
   • Subtract the power from the given quantity, and divide the first term of the remainder, by the first term of the root involved to the next inferiour power, and multiplied by the index of the given power; the quotient...