implicate
Americanverb (used with object)
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implicates,
present (3rd person singular)
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implicated,
past participle, past
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implicating
present participle
-
to show to be also involved, usually in an incriminating manner.
to be implicated in a crime.
-
to imply as a necessary circumstance, or as something to be inferred or understood.
-
to connect or relate to intimately; affect as a consequence.
The malfunctioning of one part of the nervous system implicates another part.
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Archaic. to fold or twist together; intertwine; interlace.
verb
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to show to be involved, esp in a crime
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to involve as a necessary inference; imply
his protest implicated censure by the authorities
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to affect intimately
this news implicates my decision
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rare to intertwine or entangle
Synonym Usage
See involve.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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implicatesimple
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implicatessimple
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have implicatedperfect
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has implicatedperfect
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am implicatingprogressive
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are implicatingprogressive
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is implicatingprogressive
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have been implicatingperfect progressive
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has been implicatingperfect progressive
Past
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implicatedsimple
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had implicatedperfect
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was implicatingprogressive
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were implicatingprogressive
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had been implicatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of implicate
First recorded in 1530–40; from Latin implicātus, past participle of implicāre “to interweave,” equivalent to im- im- 1 + plicā(re) “to fold” + -ātus -ate 1; see ply 2
Explanation
The verb implicate means "to connect or involve in something." For example, your cousins might implicate you in the planning of a big party for your grandparents. Implicate comes from the Latin word implicare, meaning "to entwine, involve." When you implicate someone, you bring him or her into a group or to pitch in on a project. Implicate can have criminal connotations when it means "to connect in an incriminating manner," like when detectives figure out who drove the getaway car in the bank robbery — that person will be implicated for his or her role in the crime.
Vocabulary lists containing implicate
Just Mercy
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Monster
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Wasn't Me: The Lingo of Laying Blame
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"While environmental factors could have played a role, our findings most directly implicate the chytrid fungus, revealing that regional invasion of the pathogen coincided with these unexplained amphibian disappearances," Boyette said.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026
Earlier this month, a leaked Spanish police report seemed to implicate Moroccan police in the incident.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
Roughly 173,000 documents released Tuesday, and additional ones which will be published online in waves over the next 12 months, could implicate two former New York mayors.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
Although many people with security clearances are government employees, millions of private citizens also need clearances to work on military matters or to represent criminal defendants charged with crimes that implicate sensitive information.
From Slate ● May 15, 2026
He's sure that Karl understands, sure that Karl knows that Helmuth has taken the blame, sure Karl understands not to say anything that will implicate himself more during his interrogation.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Although the evidence strongly implicates chytrid in the historic declines at Boracéia, the researchers caution that their findings apply to this particular location.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026
California has similarly argued that its law requiring social-media companies to disclose how they moderate content—including how they define hate speech, disinformation and extremism—is constitutional because it implicates commercial speech.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2025
“Here There Are Blueberries” implicates the present and the future as much as it does the past.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2025
Nothing about Smith’s conduct implicates either the DOJ policy or the 60-day rule.
From Slate ● Oct. 18, 2024
Booth also has left behind clues—among them a business card bearing the name J. Harrison Surratt and a letter from Samuel Arnold, who had been part of the kidnapping plot, that implicates Michael O’Laughlen.
From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly
Now, Saker is not named but is among the staff Khawaja has implicated in the book by claiming a member of the backroom team encouraged Bancroft.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2026
Several companies implicated have insisted they are not behind the fires.
From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026
The departures of these women isn’t because none of the administration’s men have been implicated in misconduct or corrupt dealings.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026
While other AI models were implicated in certain other instances, most known cases were associated with OpenAI’s chatbot, and in particular the GPT-4o model, which was in service from May 2024 until early this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
Walters’ supporters further argue that Oxford’s statements implicating Walters—as well as Travis’ testimony against him—were tainted, the result of the men being coerced by police and angling for lighter sentences.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Sanft said there was no evidence implicating Davis in Shakur's murder other than his own statements.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
“The visual graphic, which was widely circulated online, was mismatched with the table of results, thus implicating both of our formulas,” Bauer said.
From Salon ● Mar. 20, 2026
When we later confronted Mr Ahmed in person he denied any involvement, but we have found significant evidence implicating him.
From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2025
After implicating Joe, McCants was sentenced as an adult to four-and-one-half years and served just six months.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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