implicate

[ im-pli-keyt ]

verb (used with object)

, im·pli·cat·ed, im·pli·cat·ing.

1. to show to be also involved, usually in an incriminating manner:

   to be implicated in a crime.

2. to imply as a necessary circumstance, or as something to be inferred or understood.
3. to connect or relate to intimately; affect as a consequence:

   The malfunctioning of one part of the nervous system implicates another part.

4. Archaic. to fold or twist together; intertwine; interlace.

implicate

/ ˈɪmplɪˌkeɪt; ɪmˈplɪkətɪv /

verb

1. to show to be involved, esp in a crime
2. to involve as a necessary inference; imply

   his protest implicated censure by the authorities

3. to affect intimately

   this news implicates my decision

4. rare.
   to intertwine or entangle

Derived Forms

• imˈplicatively, adverb
• implicative, adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of implicate¹

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; ply ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of implicate¹

C16: from Latin implicāre to involve, from im- + plicāre to fold

Synonym Study

See involve.

Example Sentences

Humanity loves a scapegoat, especially one that doesn’t implicate the rest of us.

From Slate

Adams kept trying to implicate Michael Che even as he declared his innocence and proclaimed his love for the city’s workers: “The dancers, the bottle girls, Fat Joe.”

From Los Angeles Times

Smith, however, left behind the knife, a knife sheath and the audio recorder covered in DNA that would implicate him in the murder.

From Los Angeles Times

But he held the release of that information for three weeks to give the state time to file for appellate relief — which it did, arguing in a petition that the deputies’ “disciplinary matters here do not implicate any Brady obligations and/or were determined to be unfounded by the superior court in the litigation of those matters.”

From Los Angeles Times

A law that regulates generative A.I. capabilities—such as a law that requires audits and certification of tools that can engage in sophisticated persuasion—may also not implicate the First Amendment on its face, depending on how it’s written.

From Slate

Related Words

• accuse
• affect
• blame
• charge
• cite
• embroil
• entangle
• incriminate
• suggest