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implicate - 4 dictionary results

im⋅pli⋅cate

[im-pli-keyt]
–verb (used with object), -cat⋅ed, -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.

Origin:
1530–40; < L implicātus ptp. of implicāre to interweave, equiv. to im- im- 1 + plicā(re) to ply 2 + -ātus -ate 1


1. See involve.
im·pli·cate   (ĭm'plĭ-kāt')   
tr.v.   im·pli·cat·ed, im·pli·cat·ing, im·pli·cates
  1. To involve or connect intimately or incriminatingly: evidence that implicates others in the plot.
  2. To have as a consequence or necessary circumstance; imply or entail: His evasiveness implicated complicity.
  3. Linguistics To convey, imply, or suggest by implicature.
  4. Archaic To interweave or entangle; entwine.

[Middle English, to convey a truth bound up in a fable, from Latin implicāre, implicāt-, to entangle, unite : in-, in; see in-2 + plicāre, to fold; see plek- in Indo-European roots.]

Implicate

Im"pli*cate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Implicated; p. pr. & vb. n. Implicating.] [L. implicatus, p. p. of implicare to involve; pref. im- in + plicare to fold. See Employ, Ply, and cf. Imply, Implicit.]

1. To infold; to fold together; to interweave.

The meeting boughs and implicated leaves. --Shelley.

2. To bring into connection with; to involve; to connect; -- applied to persons, in an unfavorable sense; as, the evidence implicates many in this conspiracy; to be implicated in a crime, a discreditable transaction, a fault, etc.

Main Entry: im·pli·cate
Pronunciation: 'im-pl&-"kAt
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: -cat·ed; -cat·ing
: to involve as a consequence, corollary, or natural inference implicates the First Amendment>
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