gestalt
[ guh-shtahlt, -shtawlt, -stahlt, -stawlt ]
/ gəˈʃtɑlt, -ˈʃtɔlt, -ˈstɑlt, -ˈstɔlt /
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noun, plural ge·stalts, ge·stal·ten [guh-shtahl-tn, -shtawl-, -stahl-, -stawl-] /gəˈʃtɑl tn, -ˈʃtɔl-, -ˈstɑl-, -ˈstɔl-/. (sometimes initial capital letter) Psychology.
a configuration, pattern, or organized field having specific properties that cannot be derived from the summation of its component parts; a unified whole.
an instance or example of such a unified whole.
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RELATED WORDS
Nearby words
- gessen,
- gesso,
- gest,
- gesta romanorum,
- gestagen,
- gestalt phenomenon,
- gestalt psychology,
- gestalt psychotherapy,
- gestalt therapy,
- gestaltism
Origin of gestalt
1920–25; < German: figure, form, structure
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for gestalt
Gestalt
/ (ɡəˈʃtælt) /
noun plural -stalts or -stalten (-ˈʃtæltən)
(sometimes not capital) a perceptual pattern or structure possessing qualities as a whole that cannot be described merely as a sum of its partsSee also Gestalt psychology
Word Origin for Gestalt
C20: German: form, from Old High German stellen to shape
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Gestalt
1922, from German Gestaltqualität (1890, introduced by German philosopher Christian von Ehrenfels, 1859-1932), from German gestalt "shape, form, figure, configuration, appearance," abstracted from ungestalt "deformity," noun use of adj. ungestalt "misshapen," from gestalt, obsolete past participle of stellen "to place, arrange" (see stall (n.1)). As a school of psychology, it was founded c.1912 by M Wertheimer, K. Koffka, W. Köhler.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
gestalt
n. pl. ge•stalts
A physical, biological, psychological, or symbolic configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that its properties cannot be derived from a simple summation of its parts.gestalt phenomenon
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