gestalt

[ guh-shtahlt, -shtawlt, -stahlt, -stawlt ]
See synonyms for: gestaltgestaltengestalts on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural ge·stalts, ge·stal·ten [guh-shtahl-tn, -shtawl-, -stahl-, -stawl-]. /gəˈʃtɑl tn, -ˈʃtɔl-, -ˈstɑl-, -ˈstɔl-/. (sometimes initial capital letter)Psychology.
  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.

Origin of gestalt

1
1920–25; <German: figure, form, structure

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British Dictionary definitions for Gestalt

Gestalt

/ (ɡəˈʃtælt) /


nounplural -stalts or -stalten (-ˈʃtæltən)
  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

Origin of Gestalt

1
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