involution

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun reduction in size of an organ or part (as in the return of the uterus to normal size after childbirth)
noun a long and intricate and complicated grammatical construction
noun marked by elaborately complex detail

From Latin involūtiō, from involvō.

Were there obverse meditations of involution increasingly less vast? — Ulysses, James Joyce
[A] This is either a dissolution of the mutual involution of the atoms, or a similar dispersion of the unsentient elements. — Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius
The words (Greek) have been variously translated—‘squared and cubed’ (Donaldson), ‘equalling and equalled in power’ (Weber), ‘by involution and evolution,’ i.e. by raising the power and extracting the root (as in the translation). — The Republic, Plato

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