involved

English

Etymology

From involve +‎ -ed.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvɒlvd/
• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvɔlvd/
• (MLE) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvoːvd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvɑlvd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧volved

Adjective

involved (comparative more involved, superlative most involved)

1. Complicated.

   He related an involved story about every ancestor since 1895.

   • 1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XLIII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:

     Miss Price told him a long, involved story, which made out that Mrs. Otter, a humdrum and respectable little person, had scabrous intrigues.

   • 2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     E-commerce has turned even the laying of a floor into a fiendishly involved business.

2. Associated with others, be a participant or make someone be a participant (in a crime, process, etc.)

   He was involved in the project for three years.

   He got involved in a bar fight.

   When the family wrapped up my father's will, no one tried to make me feel involved.

3. Having an affair with someone.
   • 1980 December 6, Cindy Rizzo, “Jewish, Lesbian, Feminist, Psychologist, Author—All of the above and more”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 20, page 8:

     She has been happily involved with the same woman for almost three years. During that time, they have grown together, dealt well with their problems and have worked consistently for a loving and trusting relationship.

Derived terms

• involvedly
• involvedness
• justice-involved
• officer-involved
• officer-involved shooting
• self-involved

 

Translations

complicated — see complicated

associated with others, be or be made a participant

• Afrikaans: betrokke (af)
• Arabic: مُتَوَرِّط m (mutawarriṭ)
• Bulgarian: замесен (bg) (zamesen)
• Esperanto: implikita, envolvita, anigita, implikiĝinta, envolviĝinta, aniĝinta
• Estonian: seostuv
• Finnish: osallinen (fi) (usually in essive), asiaan liittyvä
• German: beteiligt (de), betroffen (de)
• Hebrew: מְעֹרָב (he) m (m'oráv)
• Italian: coinvolto (it), associato (it)
• Khmer: ខ្វល់ (km) (kvɑl)
• Portuguese: envolvido (pt) m
• Russian: вовлечённый (ru) (vovlečónnyj), прича́стный (ru) (pričástnyj)
• Spanish: involucrado (es)
• Swedish: delaktig (sv), involverad (sv)
• Tagalog: sangkot
• Ukrainian: приче́тний (pryčétnyj)

having an affair with someone

• German: eine Affäre haben
• Italian: implicato (it), interessato (it)
• Portuguese: envolvido (pt) m

Verb

involved

1. simple past and past participle of involve

   The explanation involved potatoes, squirrels, and race cars.