involve

To have something as a part of an activity or situation.

• The work involves travel.
• The repair involved replacing two parts.
• Does the course involve taking an exam?

How to use it: involve doing something (The job involves visiting customers at home.)

Similar words: include, entail

Opposites: exclude

Common phrases: involve travel, involve risk, involve hard work

To make someone take part in an activity or become connected with a situation.

• Let’s involve everyone.
• The teacher involved parents in the project.
• Why did you involve the police?

How to use it: involve someone in something (We involved the children in planning the party.); involve yourself in something (She involved herself in local politics.)

Similar words: include, engage, bring in

Opposites: exclude

Common phrases: involve someone, involve the community, involve everyone

To mix things together in a complicated way, or draw someone into serious difficulties.

• His mistakes involved him in trouble.
• The failed venture involved several families in debt.
• The poet described roots involved in a tangled mass.

How to use it: involve someone/something in something (His reckless spending involved the family in debt.)

Similar words: entangle, embroil, intertwine

Opposites: disentangle

Common phrases: involve in debt, involve in misery, involve in trouble