Involution

Quick meaning: Involution is a noun meaning Entanglement; a spiralling inwards; intricacy.

Meaning

Entanglement; a spiralling inwards; intricacy.

More Meanings

1. A complicated grammatical construction.
2. (mathematics) An endofunction whose square is equal to the identity function; a function equal to its inverse.
3. (medicine) The shrinking of an organ (such as the uterus) to a former size.
4. (physiology) The regressive changes in the body occurring with old age.
5. (mathematics, obsolete) A power: the result of raising one number to the power of another.
6. (economics, social sciences, of a society or nation) A cessation of development or progress involving intense inner competition.
7. (neologism) A state of increased competition for limited resources, requiring great effort to stay ahead.

Example Sentences

Involutions have the property that they are their own inverses.

‘Gomez,’ said the mortician, ‘is an expert only on the involutions of his own rectum.’

[…]usually his attention was diverted from her feet by her shrieks of laughter and the astounding involutions of her huge brown-yellow frame.

1917, James Huneker, Unicorns, New York: Scribner, Chapter 11 “Style and Rhythm in English Prose,” p. 129, Walter Pater’s essay on Style is honeycombed with involutions and preciosity.

Word Forms

• involutions

Synonyms for involution

Depending on context, synonyms include exponentiation, enfolding.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include enfolding, exponentiation, entanglement, entwinement, intrication, intwinement.

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