gestalt

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

/ gəˈʃtɑlt, -ˈʃtɔlt, -ˈstɑlt, -ˈstɔlt /

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.

Nearby words

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

Right now I needed a gestalt of something whose whole would be a lot greater than the sum of its parts.
Jack of No Trades|Charles Cottrell
Perls transformed the Gestalt psychologists' central idea so it would serve as a basis for his approach to psychotherapy.
When You Don't Know Where to Turn|Steven J. Bartlett
If his action is successful, his Gestalt is closed: the problem is resolved, and the motivation is fulfilled.
When You Don't Know Where to Turn|Steven J. Bartlett
In the example, the man suffering from thirst in the desert has a Gestalt that impels him to find water.
When You Don't Know Where to Turn|Steven J. Bartlett

Like the Gestalt of the psychologists, the closed Gestalt of therapy signifies an organized whole.
When You Don't Know Where to Turn|Steven J. Bartlett

British Dictionary definitions 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 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gestalt

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.

Medicine definitions for gestalt

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