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

Words Nearby gestalt

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use gestalt in a sentence

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

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

    Warm | Robert Sheckley
  • Everett and his Telempathetic gestalt have proved to be the equivalent of the world's largest survey sample.

    Telempathy | Vance Simonds
  • 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.

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

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