Meaning & use
involve
Last updated
Meanings
verbtransitive
To have something as a necessary part or result of itself.
Grammar: Takes an object, often a noun or -ing form: the job involves travel, involves traveling.
Patterns
- something involves something
- something involves doing something
Learning a language involves a lot of repetition.
The recipe involves marinating the chicken overnight.
Changing careers can involve taking a pay cut.
verbtransitive
To make someone take part in an activity or become connected with a situation.
Grammar: Takes a person as the object, often followed by in: involve parents in the plan.
Patterns
- involve someone in something
- involve someone
The teacher tried to involve every student in the discussion.
Please don't involve me in your argument with Dan.
The council involved local residents in designing the new park.
verbtransitive
To affect or include a person or thing as being concerned in an event, often an accident or crime.
Grammar: Often used in the passive or as a participle: the accident involved three cars.
Patterns
- something involves someone
- someone is involved in something
The investigation involves several former employees.
The crash involved a bus and two cars.
The lawsuit involves a dispute over land.
Word forms
| third person singular | involves |
|---|---|
| past tense | involved |
| past participle | involved |
| -ing form | involving |
Common combinations
- involve risk
- Starting a business always involves some risk.
- involve a lot of work
- Planning the wedding involved a lot of work.
- involve someone in a decision
- We should involve the whole team in the decision.
- directly involve
- The change will directly involve our night staff.
- get involved in
- I didn't want to get involved in the dispute.
- actively involve
- The program actively involves families in their children's learning.
Synonyms and how they differ
- entail
- Entail is more formal and stresses what must follow as a necessary consequence, while involve is looser and more common.
- include
- Include simply lists something as one of the parts, whereas involve implies it is an essential or active component.
- engage
- Engage for people suggests actively occupying their attention, while involve just means bringing them into something.
- implicate
- Implicate means showing someone is connected with wrongdoing, which is narrower and more negative than involve.
Opposites
Word family
- involved adjective
- complicated, or taking part in something
- involvement noun
- the fact of taking part or being connected
- involving adjective
- holding someone's attention and engaging them
- uninvolved adjective
- not taking part or connected
- involuntary adjective
- a different word, meaning done without choice
Commonly confused: involve or evolve? involve or engage?
involve vs evolve
Evolve means to develop gradually over time; involve means to include or connect.
involve vs engage
Engage often needs a particular kind of attention or hiring, while involve is more general.
Practice
Which sentence is correct?
Choose one answer.
Involve is followed by a noun or an -ing form, and with a singular subject it takes the -s ending. The infinitive after involve and the bare verb are not correct.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “involve”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.