gestalt

[ guh-shtahlt, -shtawlt, -stahlt, -stawlt ]

noun

, (sometimes initial capital letter)

, plural ge·stalts, ge·stal·ten [g, uh, -, shtahl, -tn, -, shtawl, -, -, stahl, -, -, stawl, -].

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.

Gestalt

/ 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of gestalt¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of gestalt¹

C20: German: form, from Old High German stellen to shape

Example Sentences

The writer Lindy West, for example, has studied photos of fat women in the hope of “coaxing a gestalt shift from revulsion to admiration.”

From Washington Post

Wertheimer termed the fundamental principle of gestalt perception prägnanz, as the tendency to seek simplicity through recurrence, order, or symmetry.

From Nautilus

In other words, I saw a mosaic, a gestalt—many pieces fusing to form a sum greater than the parts.

From Outside Online

Not any specific feature of the series, but a sort of overall gestalt.

From The Daily Beast

But on Wednesday, here was the White House to remind you that an MC is more than the gestalt of his lyrics.

From The Daily Beast

To address the whole gestalt of the ultimate daiquiri, we need to come at this from two angles.

From The Daily Beast

"Dreaming of you, of course," he said to the flesh-clad skeleton behind the total gestalt Judy.

From Project Gutenberg

Everett and his Telempathetic Gestalt have proved to be the equivalent of the world's largest survey sample.

From Project Gutenberg

Right now I needed a gestalt of something whose whole would be a lot greater than the sum of its parts.

From Project Gutenberg

Perls transformed the Gestalt psychologists' central idea so it would serve as a basis for his approach to psychotherapy.

From Project Gutenberg

If his action is successful, his Gestalt is closed: the problem is resolved, and the motivation is fulfilled.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• composition
• contour
• shape
• structure