Involve, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Involved; p. pr. & vb. n. Involving.]
Etymology: [L. involvere, involutum, to roll about, wrap up; pref. in- in + volvere to roll: cf. OF. involver. See Voluble, and cf. Involute.]
1. To roll or fold up; to wind round; to entwine. Some of serpent kind . . . involved Their snaky folds. Milton.
2. To envelop completely; to surround; to cover; to hide; to involve in darkness or obscurity. And leave a singèd bottom all involved With stench and smoke. Milton.
3. To complicate or make intricate, as in grammatical structure. "Involved discourses." Locke.
4. To connect with something as a natural or logical consequence or effect; to include necessarily; to imply. He knows His end with mine involved. Milton. The contrary necessarily involves a contradiction. Tillotson.
6 more senses
5. To take in; to gather in; to mingle confusedly; to blend or merge. [R.] The gathering number, as it moves along, Involves a vast involuntary throng. Pope. Earth with hell To mingle and involve. Milton.
6. To envelop, infold, entangle, or embarrass; as, to involve a person in debt or misery.
7. To engage thoroughly; to occupy, employ, or absorb. "Involved in a deep study." Sir W. Scott.
8. (Math.)
To raise to any assigned power; to multiply, as a quantity, into itself a given number of times; as, a quantity involved to the third or fourth power.
Syn. -- To imply; include; implicate; complicate; entangle; embarrass; overwhelm. -- To Involve, Imply. Imply is opposed to express, or set forth; thus, an implied engagement is one fairly to be understood from the words used or the circumstances of the case, though not set forth in form. Involve goes beyond the mere interpretation of things into their necessary relations; and hence, if one thing involves another, it so contains it that the two must go together by an indissoluble connection. War, for example, involves wide spread misery and death; the premises of a syllogism involve the conclusion.
Shades of meaning
To involve (L. in, in, and volvo, roll) is to roll or wind up with or in so as to combine inextricably or inseparably, or nearly so; as, the nation is involved in war; the bookkeeper's accounts, or the writer's sentences are involved. Involve is a stronger word than implicate, denoting more complete entanglement. 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. As regards logical connection that which is included is usually expressly stated; that which is implied is not stated, but is naturally to be inferred; that which is involved is necessarily to be inferred; as, a slate roof is included in the contract; that the roof shall be water-tight is implied; the contrary supposition involves an absurdity. See complex.