A.Word.A.Day --involute

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Today's Word

involute

PRONUNCIATION:

(adjective/noun: IN-vuh-loot; verb: in-vuh-LOOT)

MEANING:

adjective:	1. Intricate; complex.
	2. Curled inward.
noun:	A curve traced by a point on a string while winding or unwinding it around another curve.
verb intr.:	1. To curl up.
verb intr.:	2. To return to a former condition or to a normal state.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin involutus, past participle of involvere (to roll up), from in- (into) + volvere (to roll). Ultimately from the Indo-European root wel- (to turn or roll), which also gave us waltz, revolve, valley, walk, vault, volume, wallet, helix, devolve, voluble, welter, and willowy. Earliest documented use: 1661.

USAGE:

“A shoddy piece of research obfuscated by crepuscular logic and involute style.”
Trevanian; The Eiger Sanction; Outlet; 1972.

“Undivide, and involute, and shrink back to safety.”
Chris Adrian; The Children’s Hospital; McSweeney’s; 2007.

See more usage examples of involute in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum -- even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate. -Noam Chomsky, linguistics professor and political activist (b. 7 Dec 1928)

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