involution
Americannoun
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an act or instance of involving or entangling; involvement.
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the state of being involved.
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something complicated.
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Mathematics. a function that is its own inverse.
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Botany, Zoology.
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a rolling up or folding in upon itself.
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a part so formed.
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Biology. retrograde development; degeneration.
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Physiology. regressive changes in the body, as those occurring with old age.
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Anthropology, Sociology. growth without evolution, as in a growing agrarian society with increased field labor whose production mechanisms become more complex without increasing yield; diminishing returns.
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Grammar. a complex construction in which the subject is separated from its predicate by intervening clauses or phrases.
noun
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the act of involving or complicating or the state of being involved or complicated
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something involved or complicated
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zoology degeneration or structural deformation
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biology an involute formation or structure
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physiol reduction in size of an organ or part, as of the uterus following childbirth or as a result of ageing
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an algebraic operation in which a number, variable, expression etc, is raised to a specified power Compare evolution
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grammar an involved construction, such as one in which the subject is separated from the predicate by an additional clause
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A mathematical operation, such as negation, which, when applied to itself, returns the original number.
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The ingrowth and curling inward of a group of cells, as in the formation of a gastrula from a blastula.
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A decrease in size of an organ, as of the uterus following childbirth.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of involution
First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin involūtiōn- (stem of involūtiō “a rolling up; a screw, spiral”); see involute, -ion
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Involution will be top of mind over the coming week at a major policymaking meeting of China’s leaders, who face a high-stakes balancing act as they discuss the country’s next five-year plan.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 19, 2025
Davis would write 20 books, including “Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World” and “Planet of Slums: Urban Involution and the Informal Working Class.”
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 26, 2022
The true teaching is that the process of Involution was accomplished by a Principle involving itself in the lower Principle created within itself, and so on until the lowest plane was reached.
From A Series of Lessons in Gnani Yoga by Atkinson, William Walker
And in order to produce such Egos the process of "Involution" of Principles seems to have been caused, and the subsequent wonderful Evolutionary process instituted.
From A Series of Lessons in Gnani Yoga by Atkinson, William Walker
But the process of change from finer to grosser was Involution, not Evolution.
From A Series of Lessons in Gnani Yoga by Atkinson, William Walker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
