involutedadj.
/ˈɪnvəl(j)uːtɪd/ 1.
a. = involute adj. 2, 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > shape > [adjective] > spiral or scroll-like
turbinated1615
involute1661
turbinate1661
whorled1776
involuted1816
turbiniform1826
turbinaceous1842
inrolled1881
turbinal1883
the world > plants > part of plant > part defined by form or function > [adjective] > rolled inwards or outwards
revolute1753
involutive1855
revolutive1860
involuted1875
1816 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. (1818) II. 327 A Brazilian beetle in my cabinet..has curious involuted suckers on its feet.
1844 W. B. Carpenter Animal Physiol. i. 37 Where it is to absorb as well as to secrete, it is usually involuted or folded upon itself.
1851 S. P. Woodward Man. Mollusca i. 66 A symmetrical involuted shell.
1875 C. Darwin Insectivorous Plants xvi. 392 The leaves catch many small insects which are found chiefly beneath the involuted margins.
b. figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > obscurity > [adjective] > complex
intricate?a1500
crabby1550
implicate1555
crabbed1561
intortive1575
implexeda1620
network1675
tortious1682
embarrassed1695
implex1712
wimpleda1722
wrapped1787
hydriform1822
torturous1841
sinuous1853
tortuous1858
involuteda1910
a1910 ‘M. Twain’ Speeches (1910) 290 Whatever moral..you put into a speech,..gets diffused among those involuted sentences.
1972 Times Lit. Suppl. 22 Dec. 1552/1 Clothed in orthodoxy, that could be no more than an involuted way of saying that God is love.
2. Physiology. That has passed through the process of involution: see involution n. 4.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders associated with age > [adjective] > old age
worm-eatenc1575
worm-eat1597
involuted1898
involutional1968
1898 G. E. Herman Dis. Women ix. 94 A uterus which is imperfectly involuted receives more blood than it should.
Derivatives
invoˈlutedly adv. in an involuted or entangled manner.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > entanglement or entangled state > [adverb]
wrappedly1589
entangledly1611
afoul1807
involutedly1879
1879 G. Meredith Egoist I. ix. 163 Curls, half curls, root curls, vine ringlets, wedding rings..waved or fell, waved over or up or involutedly, or strayed loose and downward.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.1816