involution

American  

[in-vuh-loo-shuhn] / ˌɪn vəˈlu ʃən /

noun

1. an act or instance of involving or entangling; involvement.

2. the state of being involved.

3. something complicated.

4. Mathematics. a function that is its own inverse.

5. Botany, Zoology.

   1. a rolling up or folding in upon itself.

   2. a part so formed.

6. Biology. retrograde development; degeneration.

7. Physiology. regressive changes in the body, as those occurring with old age.

8. 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.

9. Grammar. a complex construction in which the subject is separated from its predicate by intervening clauses or phrases.

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involution British  

/ ˌɪnvəˈluːʃən /

noun

1. the act of involving or complicating or the state of being involved or complicated

2. something involved or complicated

3. zoology degeneration or structural deformation

4. biology an involute formation or structure

5. physiol reduction in size of an organ or part, as of the uterus following childbirth or as a result of ageing

6. an algebraic operation in which a number, variable, expression etc, is raised to a specified power Compare evolution

7. grammar an involved construction, such as one in which the subject is separated from the predicate by an additional clause

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involution Scientific  

/ ĭn′və-lo̅o̅′shən /

1. A mathematical operation, such as negation, which, when applied to itself, returns the original number.

2. The ingrowth and curling inward of a group of cells, as in the formation of a gastrula from a blastula.

3. A decrease in size of an organ, as of the uterus following childbirth.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• superinvolution
  noun
• involutional
  adjective

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

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

This is a phenomenon of the Involution of Environment, for transformation thereof into potential Life, and potential Evolutionary output.

From Feminism and Sex-Extinction by Kenealy, Arabella

Especially will this be observed in the chapter on Involution.

From An Elementary Course in Synthetic Projective Geometry by Lehmer, Derrick Norman

We allude to the teaching that in the process of Involution there was a "degeneration" or "devolution" from higher to lower forms of life, until the gross state of Matter was reached.

From A Series of Lessons in Gnani Yoga by Atkinson, William Walker

Related Words

• braid
• tendril