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gestalt

The definition of a gestalt is something unified in a way in which the elements cannot be broken down into its parts and the total piece cannot just be thought of as a sum of all its parts.

(noun)

An example of a gestalt is the complexity of the human soul.
An example of a gestalt expression is "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts."

See gestalt in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun pl. gestalten or gestalts

in Gestalt psychology, any of the integrated structures or patterns that make up all experience and have specific properties which can neither be derived from the elements of the whole nor considered simply as the sum of these elements

Origin: Ger, lit., shape, form < MHG pp. of stellen, to arrange, fix

See gestalt in American Heritage Dictionary 4

or Ge·stalt

noun pl. ge·stalts or Ge·stalts or ge·stalt·en or Ge·stalt·en (-shtältˈn, -shtôltˈn, -stältˈn, -stôltˈn)

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.

Origin:

Origin: German, shape

Origin: , from Middle High German

Origin: , from

Origin: past participle of stellen, to place

Origin: , from Old High German; see stel- in Indo-European roots

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