involute
intricate; complex.
curled or curved inward or spirally.
Botany. rolled inward from the edge, as a leaf.
Zoology. (of shells) having the whorls closely wound.
Geometry. any curve of which a given curve is the evolute.
to roll or curl up; become involute.
to return to a normal shape, size, or state.
Origin of involute
1Other words from involute
- in·vo·lute·ly, adverb
- sub·in·vo·lute, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use involute in a sentence
These involutes are traced out by a point on a string that is gradually unwound from a circle.
It is possible to make toothed wheels that drive with perfect uniformity by using for the curve of the teeth involutes of circles.
The involutes are “orthogonal trajectories” of the tangents to the common evolute.
In practice, a piece of flat spring steel, such as a piece of clock spring, is used for tracing involutes.
Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II | Joshua Rose
British Dictionary definitions for involute
complex, intricate, or involved
botany (esp of petals, leaves, etc, in bud) having margins that are rolled inwards
(of certain shells) closely coiled so that the axis is obscured
geometry the curve described by the free end of a thread as it is wound around another curve, the evolute, such that its normals are tangential to the evolute: See also evolute
(intr) to become involute
Origin of involute
1Derived forms of involute
- involutely, adverb
- involutedly, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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