[W/K] :: involution

  Involution \In`vo*lu"tion\, n. [L. involutio: cf. F. involution.
     See Involve.]
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     1. The act of involving or infolding.
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     2. The state of being entangled or involved; complication;
        entanglement.
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              All things are mixed, and causes blended, by mutual
              involutions.                          --Glanvill.
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     3. That in which anything is involved, folded, or wrapped;
        envelope. --Sir T. Browne.
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     4. (Gram.) The insertion of one or more clauses between the
        subject and the verb, in a way that involves or
        complicates the construction.
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     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.
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     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.
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     7. (Med.) The return of an enlarged part or organ to its
        normal size, as of the uterus after pregnancy.
        [1913 Webster]

  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]

  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