gestalt

/ɡəˈʃtælt/US/ɡəˈʃtɔlt/

gestalt noun: a collection of physical, biological, psychological or symbolic elements that creates a whole, unified concept or pattern which is other than the sum of its parts due to the relationships between the parts (of a character, personality, entity, or being). [simplified] An organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts.

Noun (1)

gestalt (plural gestalts or gestalten)

A collection of physical, biological, psychological or symbolic elements that creates a whole, unified concept or pattern which is other than the sum of its parts due to the relationships between the parts (of a character, personality, entity, or being). [simplified] An organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts.
- Mary did not approve of the Eleanor gestalt. "I been to Woonsocket S.D., Eleanor McGovern's hometown," she said, "and nobody there? I mean nobody? dresses like that."1977, John L. Hess, Karen Hess, The Taste of America, New York: Grossman
- Thus one activity, talking, is understood in terms of another, physical fighting. Structuring our experience in terms of such multidimensional gestalts is what makes our experience coherent.1980, George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, chapter 15, in Metaphors We Live By

Noun (2) capitalized: Gestalt

Gestalt

Alternative letter-case form of gestalt.

gestalt meaning in Indonesian

gestalt in Indonesian

collection of entities that creates a unified concept: gestalt

Examples of gestalt in a sentence

So different were our appearances and approaches and general gestalts that we had something of an epic rivalry from '74 through '77.1998, David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, 1st Back Bay edition, Boston: Little, Brown and Co.:
The clusters of behavioral gestalten... the probability factors... the subtypes of crimes... the constellations of criminal subtypes...2003 August, Jay Kirk, “Watching the Detectives”, in Harpers Magazine, volume 307, number 1839, page 61:
Obviously it was related to the entire gestalt of Simon's polyphobia and compensatory counterphobia.2008, Jonathan Nasaw, Fear Itself:
We’re doing that for vaccination.’ So if you take the gestalt of it, the gestalt was, ‘Let’s get vaccinated!’”2025 March 6, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, quoting Bill Cassidy, “A Skeptical G.O.P. Senator Makes His Peace With Kennedy”, in The New York Times...

Forms of gestalt

plural	gestalts
plural	gestalten
alternative form	Gestalt

Plural of gestalt: gestalts or gestalten

Origin of gestalt

Borrowed from German Gestalt (“shape, figure, form”).

Words formed from gestalt

Phrases with gestalt

gestalt therapies

Questions about gestalt

What does gestalt mean?: Gestalt means a collection of physical, biological, psychological or symbolic elements that creates a whole, unified concept or pattern which is other than the sum of its parts due to the relationships between the parts (of a character, personality, entity, or being). [simplified] An organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts.
What is gestalt in Indonesian?: Gestalt in Indonesian is gestalt. See Gestalt meaning in Indonesian.
How do you use gestalt in a sentence?: So different were our appearances and approaches and general gestalts that we had something of an epic rivalry from '74 through '77.
What part of speech is gestalt?: Gestalt is a noun.
How do you pronounce gestalt?: Gestalt is pronounced /ɡəˈʃtælt/ (UK).
What is the plural of gestalt?: The plural of gestalt is gestalts.

Words near gestalt in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: gestalt (page history and authors); Gestalt (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gestalt.wav.

Cite this entry: “gestalt.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gestalt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.