Involution

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Involution \In`vo*lu"tion\, n. [L. involutio: cf. F. involution.
     See {Involve}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. The act of involving or infolding.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. The state of being entangled or involved; complication;
        entanglement.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              All things are mixed, and causes blended, by mutual
              involutions.                          --Glanvill.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. That in which anything is involved, folded, or wrapped;
        envelope. --Sir T. Browne.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Gram.) The insertion of one or more clauses between the
        subject and the verb, in a way that involves or
        complicates the construction.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. (Math.) The act or process of raising a quantity to any
        power assigned; the multiplication of a quantity into
        itself a given number of times; -- the reverse of
        evolution.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. (Geom.) The relation which exists between three or more
        sets of points, a.a', b.b', c.c', so related to a point O
        on the line, that the product Oa.Oa' = Ob.Ob' = Oc.Oc' is
        constant. Sets of lines or surfaces possessing
        corresponding properties may be in involution.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     7. (Med.) The return of an enlarged part or organ to its
        normal size, as of the uterus after pregnancy.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  involution
       n 1: reduction in size of an organ or part (as in the return of
            the uterus to normal size after childbirth)
       2: a long and intricate and complicated grammatical
          construction
       3: marked by elaborately complex detail [syn: {elaborateness},
          {elaboration}, {intricacy}]
       4: the act of sharing in the activities of a group; "the
          teacher tried to increase his students' engagement in
          class activities" [syn: {engagement}, {participation}, {involvement}]
          [ant: {non-engagement}, {non-engagement}, {non-engagement}]
       5: the process of raising a quantity to some assigned power
          [syn: {exponentiation}]
       6: the action of enfolding something [syn: {enfolding}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  111 Moby Thesaurus words for "involution":
     absorption, addition, ambages, anfractuosity, approximation,
     circuitousness, circumambages, circumbendibus, circumlocution,
     circumvolution, comedown, complexity, complexness, complication,
     convolution, crabbedness, crinkle, crinkling, debasement,
     decadence, decadency, declension, declination, decline,
     deformation, degeneracy, degenerateness, degeneration, degradation,
     demotion, depravation, depravedness, depreciation, derogation,
     descent, deterioration, devolution, differentiation, division,
     downtrend, downturn, downward mobility, downward trend, drop,
     dying, ebb, effeteness, embarrassment, engagement, enmeshment,
     entanglement, equation, evolution, extrapolation, fading, failing,
     failure, failure of nerve, fall, falling-off, flexuosity,
     flexuousness, implication, inclusion, integration, interpolation,
     intorsion, intricacy, intricateness, inversion, involvement, lapse,
     loss of tone, meander, meandering, multiplication, notation,
     perplexity, practice, proportion, ramification, reduction,
     regression, relation, retrocession, retrogradation, retrogression,
     rivulation, sinuation, sinuosity, sinuousness, slinkiness,
     slippage, slump, snakiness, subtlety, subtraction, tanglement,
     technicality, torsion, tortility, tortuosity, tortuousness,
     transformation, turning, twisting, undulation, wane, wave, waving,
     winding