Implicate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Implicated; p. pr. & vb. n. Implicating.]
Etymology: [L. implicatus, p. p. of implicare to involve; pref. im- in + plicare to fold. See Employ, Ply, and cf. Imply, Implicit.]
1. To infold; to fold together; to interweave. The meeting boughs and implicated leaves. Shelley.
2. To bring into connection with; to involve; to connect; -- applied to persons, in an unfavorable sense; as, the evidence implicates many in this conspiracy; to be implicated in a crime, a discreditable transaction, a fault, etc.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for implicate; he lists it under involve.
Where he writes about it:
Involve is a stronger word than implicate, denoting more complete entanglement. — from involve
As applied to persons, implicate is always used in an unfavorable sense, and involve ordinarily so; but implicate applies only to that which is wrong, while involve is more commonly used of that which is unfortunate; one is implicated in a crime, involved in embarrassments, misfortunes, or perplexities. — from involve