involution

in·vo·lu·tion

I0219200 (ĭn′və-lo͞o′shən)n.1. a. The act of involving.b. The state of being involved.2. Intricacy; complexity.3. Something, such as a long grammatical construction, that is intricate or complex.4. Mathematics An operation, such as negation, which, when applied to itself, returns the original number.5. Embryology The ingrowth and curling inward of a group of cells, as in the formation of a gastrula from a blastula.6. Medicine a. A decrease in size of an organ, as of the uterus following childbirth.b. A progressive decline or degeneration of normal physiological functioning occurring as a result of the aging process.

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[Latin involūtiō, involūtiōn-, from involūtus, past participle of involvere, to enwrap; see involve.]

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in′vo·lu′tion·al adj.

involution

(ˌɪnvəˈluːʃən) n1. the act of involving or complicating or the state of being involved or complicated2. something involved or complicated3. (Zoology) zoology degeneration or structural deformation4. (Biology) biology an involute formation or structure5. (Physiology) physiol reduction in size of an organ or part, as of the uterus following childbirth or as a result of ageing6. (Mathematics) an algebraic operation in which a number, variable, expression, etc, is raised to a specified power. Compare evolution⁵7. (Grammar) grammar an involved construction, such as one in which the subject is separated from the predicate by an additional clause ˌinvoˈlutional adj

in•vo•lu•tion

(ˌɪn vəˈlu ʃən)

n. 1. an act or instance of involving or entangling; involvement. 2. the state of being involved. 3. something complicated. 4. Biol. retrogression; restoration of a former state. 5. Physiol. the regressive changes in the body occurring with old age. 6. a complex grammatical construction in which the subject is separated from its predicate by intervening clauses or phrases. 7. a mathematical function that is its own inverse. [1605–15; < Medieval Latin involūtiō. See involve, -tion] in`vo•lu′tion•al, adj.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	involution - reduction in size of an organ or part (as in the return of the uterus to normal size after childbirth)biological process, organic process - a process occurring in living organisms
	2.	involution - a long and intricate and complicated grammatical constructiongrammatical construction, construction, expression - a group of words that form a constituent of a sentence and are considered as a single unit; "I concluded from his awkward constructions that he was a foreigner"
	3.	involution - marked by elaborately complex detailelaborateness, intricacy, elaborationcomplexity, complexness - the quality of being intricate and compounded; "he enjoyed the complexity of modern computers"
	4.	involution - the act of sharing in the activities of a group; "the teacher tried to increase his students' engagement in class activities"involvement, participation, engagementgroup action - action taken by a group of peoplecommitment - an engagement by contract involving financial obligation; "his business commitments took him to London"intervention, intercession - the act of intervening (as to mediate a dispute, etc.); "it occurs without human intervention"group participation - participation by all members of a group
	5.	involution - the process of raising a quantity to some assigned powerexponentiationmathematical operation, mathematical process, operation - (mathematics) calculation by mathematical methods; "the problems at the end of the chapter demonstrated the mathematical processes involved in the derivation"; "they were learning the basic operations of arithmetic"
	6.	involution - the action of enfolding somethingenfoldingchange of shape - an action that changes the shape of something

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