INVOLUTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does involution mean? 

• INVOLUTION (noun)
  The noun INVOLUTION has 6 senses:

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

4. the act of sharing in the activities of a group

5. the process of raising a quantity to some assigned power

6. the action of enfolding something

  Familiarity information: INVOLUTION used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INVOLUTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Reduction in size of an organ or part (as in the return of the uterus to normal size after childbirth)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("involution" is a kind of...):

biological process; organic process (a process occurring in living organisms)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A long and intricate and complicated grammatical construction

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("involution" is a kind of...):

construction; expression; grammatical construction (a group of words that form a constituent of a sentence and are considered as a single unit)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Marked by elaborately complex detail

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

elaborateness; elaboration; intricacy; involution

Hypernyms ("involution" is a kind of...):

complexity; complexness (the quality of being intricate and compounded)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The act of sharing in the activities of a group

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

engagement; involution; involvement; participation

Context example:

the teacher tried to increase his students' engagement in class activities

Hypernyms ("involution" is a kind of...):

group action (action taken by a group of people)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "involution"):

commitment (an engagement by contract involving financial obligation)

intercession; intervention (the act of intervening (as to mediate a dispute, etc.))

group participation (participation by all members of a group)

Derivation:

involve (engage as a participant)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The process of raising a quantity to some assigned power

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

exponentiation; involution

Hypernyms ("involution" is a kind of...):

mathematical operation; mathematical process; operation ((mathematics) calculation by mathematical methods)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The action of enfolding something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

enfolding; involution

Hypernyms ("involution" is a kind of...):

change of shape (an action that changes the shape of something)

 Context examples 

It undergoes atrophy and involution at six months of age.

(Bursa Of Fabricius, NCI Thesaurus)

Involution of the breast parenchyma.

(Breast Atrophy, NCI Thesaurus)