involved

adjective in·volved \ in-ˈvälvd , -ˈvȯlvd also -ˈvävd or -ˈvȯvd \

Updated on: 17 Apr 2018

Definition of involved

1 a : having a part in something : included in something

unable to identify those who were involved

She was involved in a lawsuit.

b : actively participating in something

an involved citizen active in local politics

c : having a romantic or sexual relationship

warned her not to get romantically involved

2 a : marked by extreme and often needless or excessive complexity

a long and involved story

b : difficult to deal with because of complexity or disorder

Her husband had been extravagant; and at his death … had left his affairs dreadfully involved.
—Jane Austen

3 : being affected or implicated

… dealing with … the most severely involved patients
—R. J. Thomas

4 obsolete : involute, twisted

—

involvedly

play \in-ˈväl-vəd-lē, -ˈvȯl- also -ˈvä-vəd- or -ˈvȯ-\ adverb

See involved defined for English-language learners

See involved defined for kids

Examples of involved in a Sentence

a long and involved story
The instructions for assembling the toy are very involved.
The process is quite involved.
Those of us who were involved knew exactly what happened.
Students who stay involved get more out of the program.
If you want to make things better, you need to get involved.
They quickly became romantically involved.
No one knew that they were involved.

Recent Examples of involved from the Web

Reading and sharing professional resources is a great way to stay involved with your industry and to possibly make a name for yourself as an industry expert.

— dear sam, NOLA.com, "Resist defeatism, learn how to recover (and thrive) after a layoff," 30 Mar. 2018
Her godparents encouraged Rachel to have Melanie get more involved in Santeria.

— sarah betancourt, Longreads, "The Religion No One Talks About: My Search For Answers in an Old Caribbean Faith," 30 Mar. 2018
The price, which was not disclosed, was a combination of cash and stock and Zoe, who will become a major shareholder of Bustle Digital Group, will retain the title of editor at large at the Zoe Report and will stay involved with the property.

— kara bloomgarden-smoke | wwd, latimes.com, "Bustle Digital Group acquires the Zoe Report," 27 Mar. 2018
The computation of the revealing factors for Strategy 3 and Strategy 4 are more involved and are left to the reader.

— nicholas diaco, Scientific American, "Privacy and Counterfeit Coins," 20 Mar. 2018
Check your service manual to see how involved the replacement is.

— ben wojdyla, Popular Mechanics, "How to Fix Your Car's Heater," 21 Feb. 2018
The incident didn’t make headlines only because of PewDiePie’s profile or the fact that the game Firewatch wasn’t directly involved—this also represented a rare instance of legal rights being asserted between game maker and game streamer.

— willie clark, Ars Technica, "The (still) uncertain state of video game streaming online," 28 Jan. 2018
At home Gua Sha facials may be slightly more involved than using a cold jade roller but, according to Plug, the results are worth it.

— brooke bobb, Vogue, "This Chinese Facial Tool is the Secret to Better Skin in 2018," 19 Jan. 2018
She would be joined by two other potential buyers, David Geffen and Larry Ellison, who'd be more involved in the day-to-day operations.

— martha sorren, Woman's Day, "Oprah in Talks to Buy Los Angeles Clippers," 1 May 2014

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'involved.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of involved

15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 4

See Words from the same year

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involved Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of involved

complex, complicated, intricate, involved, knotty mean having confusingly interrelated parts. complex suggests the unavoidable result of a necessary combining and does not imply a fault or failure.