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• gestalt
  gestalt

  noun

  a configuration, pattern, or organized field having specific properties that cannot be derived from the summation of its component parts; a unified whole.
• Gestalt
  Gestalt

  noun

  (sometimes not capital) a perceptual pattern or structure possessing qualities as a whole that cannot be described merely as a sum of its parts See also Gestalt psychology

gestalt

American  

[guh-shtahlt, -shtawlt, -stahlt, -stawlt] / gəˈʃtɑlt, -ˈʃtɔlt, -ˈstɑlt, -ˈstɔlt /

noun

(sometimes initial capital letter)

• gestalts,
  plural
• gestalten
  plural

1. a configuration, pattern, or organized field having specific properties that cannot be derived from the summation of its component parts; a unified whole.

2. an instance or example of such a unified whole.

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Gestalt British  

/ ɡəˈʃtælt /

noun

1. (sometimes not capital) a perceptual pattern or structure possessing qualities as a whole that cannot be described merely as a sum of its parts See also Gestalt psychology

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• gestalten
  plural
• gestalts
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of gestalt

1920–25; < German: figure, form, structure

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Explanation

A gestalt has two or more parts (like figure and ground) that are so integrated together that we perceive them as one object. Think of teaching "the whole child," and you have the idea behind gestalt. The perception of oneness from many is the basis of gestalt. It derived from the 1890 German philosophy of Gestaltqualität, meaning "form or shape," which explored the idea of perception. For example, a picture might have several separate parts that work together to form one perceived image. The area of gestalt psychology developed in 1912, focusing on the various aspects of a person and how they combine into a whole that affects that person's relationship with his or her environment.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gestalt Gestalt gestalten gestalts

And yet what’s surprising is how ethereally effective Birney’s DIY gestalt is as a reverse state of consciousness: an outside where before there was only inside.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2026

The guides, it said, reflect “the whole gestalt of India’s association with sky and space.”

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 7, 2023

“It’s interesting to think about work not just as something that gets locked into a gestalt of an image,” Mr. Pardo said excitedly.

From New York Times ● May 5, 2023

"Almost no individual element of this was original—beans and greens have been the stuff of dinner since beans and greens began—and yet the gestalt had something to it, something unexpectedly right."

From Salon ● Jan. 16, 2023

It was the creation of the gestalt Bobby needed to prove to himself that he was capable of dominance.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

In March Gestalt sent her the statuette, she said, assuring her that it contained a wiretap and a tracker.

From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2024

They add mice may even have a "Gestalt of visual self-image," meaning they could have individualistic personalities.

From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2023

Gestalt in hand, Nixon then settled in for a quick nine-to-midnight nap.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2023

Stuck by that fresh realization, Downey Jr. exclaims: “We re finally figuring everything out in real time! Live from the Gestalt Therapy Epicenter of Southern California!”

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 2, 2022

"In any case, we'd better get your Pathan over here, and start rebuilding your Gestalt," said Cam.

From Telempathy by Vance Simonds

The asceticism with which he regarded life in general is expressed in a letter to Emilie Reinbeck, 1843, in which he says: "Wer die Welt gestalten helfen will, muss darauf verzichten, sie zu geniessen."

From Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry by Wilhelm Alfred Braun

Far from being cases of 'stuff', museums are gestalts — complete entities that capture and contextualize the past.

From Nature ● Aug. 15, 2017

Man produces gestalts, and cuts form out of the plethora of nothingness.

From Warm by Ed Emshwiller

We’re replacing the whole thing with broadband uplinks of gestalts from each of the Presidents’ lives: newspaper headlines, speeches, distilled biographies, personal papers.

From Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow

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Related Words

• composition
• contour
• shape
• structure

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