Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Involution
1.
The act of involving or infolding.
2.
The state of being entangled or involved; complication; entanglement.
All things are mixed, and causes blended, by mutual
involutions
. Glanvill.
3.
That in which anything is involved, folded, or wrapped; envelope.
Sir T. Browne.
4.
(Gram.)
The insertion of one or more clauses between the subject and the verb, in a way that involves or complicates the construction.
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
. 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. 7.
(Med.)
The return of an enlarged part or organ to its normal size, as of the uterus after pregnancy.
Webster 1828 Edition
Involution
INVOLU'TION
,Noun.
1.
The action of involving or infolding.2.
The state of being entangled or involved; complication. All things are mixed and causes blended by mutual involutions.
3.
In grammar, the insertion of one or more clauses or members of a sentence between the agent or subject and the verb; a third intervening member within a second, &c; as, habitual falsehood, if we may judge from experience, infers absolute depravity.4.
In algebra, the raising of a quantity from its root to any power assigned. Thus 2x2x2=8. Here 8, the third power of 2, is found in involution, or multiplying the number into itself, and the product by the same number.Definition 2024
involution
involution
English
Noun
involution (plural involutions)
- Entanglement; a spiralling inwards; intricacy.
- 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, chapter V, page 74, ,
- […] usually his attention was diverted from her feet by her shrieks of laughter and the astounding involutions of her huge brown-yellow frame.
- 1968, Anthony Burgess, Enderby Outside, 2002, The Complete Enderby, page 302,
- ‘Gomez,’ said the mortician, ‘is an expert only on the involutions of his own rectum.’
- 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, chapter V, page 74, ,
- (mathematics) An endofunction whose square is equal to the identity function; a function equal to its inverse.
- 1996, Alfred J. Menezesm, Paul C. van Oorschot, Scott A. Vanstone, Handbook of Applied Cryptography, CRC Press, page 10,
- Involutions have the property that they are their own inverses.
- 1996, Alfred J. Menezesm, Paul C. van Oorschot, Scott A. Vanstone, Handbook of Applied Cryptography, CRC Press, page 10,
- (medicine) The shrinking of an organ (such as the uterus) to a former size.
- (physiology) The regressive changes in the body occurring with old age.
- (mathematics, obsolete) A power: the result of raising one number to the power of another.
Related terms
- involutional
- involutionary
Derived terms
- involution algebra
See also
Translations
mathematics; an endofunction whose square is equal to the identity function; a function equal to its inverse
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