gestalt
noun
ge·stalt gə-ˈstält 
-ˈshtält,
-ˈstȯlt,
-ˈshtȯlt plural gestalts also gestalten gə-ˈstäl-tᵊn
-ˈshtäl-,
-ˈstȯl-,
-ˈshtȯl-
: something that is made of many parts and yet is somehow more than or different from the combination of its parts
When he gets rolling, you're not responding to single jokes—it's the whole gestalt of the movie that's funny.
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael broadly : the general quality or character of something
When new employees are recruited fresh out of college and can look forward to working for the same company for 40 years, it changes the gestalt of management. Brenton R. Schlender
Brenton R. Schlender … the Old Hollywood gestalt, where daughters adored and romanticized their charismatic, powerful, often unavailable fathers. Nora Johnson
Nora Johnson 
Example Sentences
the gestalt of human consciousness
Recent Examples on the Web The overall gestalt of the approach is that a spy is being placed in the midst of the firm. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 13 Aug. 2022 These run as distinctive currents throughout and lend to an overall gestalt as satisfying as a fine musical album that leaves thrum and echo in its wake. oregonlive, 6 Apr. 2022 One woman is sure that the new management will bring new occupants and a new overall attitude, but another argues that the Chelsea’s bohemian excess is baked into its gestalt. Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Feb. 2022 Instead, the directors deliver the gestalt of the Chelsea, the overall sensation conveyed by the building, its past and its scaffolded present. Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Feb. 2022 When the film doesn’t fit with NASA’s gestalt, filmmakers can’t use the agency’s logo. Washington Post, 16 Jan. 2022 In 1980, a year after she was hired to run Interiors, Ms. Russell told The New York Times that her editorial vision would embrace the go-go gestalt of the impending decade. New York Times, 29 Dec. 2021 It’s an eerie gestalt, a foreboding feeling of unbookiness. Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 14 Sep. 2021 Social media is a gestalt of motivating voices, from friends and family to competitors and influencers, ads and organic posts alike. Elissa Baker, Forbes, 21 May 2021 See More
Lance Eliot, Forbes, 13 Aug. 2022 These run as distinctive currents throughout and lend to an overall gestalt as satisfying as a fine musical album that leaves thrum and echo in its wake. oregonlive, 6 Apr. 2022 One woman is sure that the new management will bring new occupants and a new overall attitude, but another argues that the Chelsea’s bohemian excess is baked into its gestalt. Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Feb. 2022 Instead, the directors deliver the gestalt of the Chelsea, the overall sensation conveyed by the building, its past and its scaffolded present. Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Feb. 2022 When the film doesn’t fit with NASA’s gestalt, filmmakers can’t use the agency’s logo. Washington Post, 16 Jan. 2022 In 1980, a year after she was hired to run Interiors, Ms. Russell told The New York Times that her editorial vision would embrace the go-go gestalt of the impending decade. New York Times, 29 Dec. 2021 It’s an eerie gestalt, a foreboding feeling of unbookiness. Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 14 Sep. 2021 Social media is a gestalt of motivating voices, from friends and family to competitors and influencers, ads and organic posts alike. Elissa Baker, Forbes, 21 May 2021 See More Word History
Etymology
German, literally, shape, form
First Known Use
1922, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
gestalt
noun
ge·stalt gə-ˈs(h)tält -ˈs(h)tȯlt
-ˈs(h)tȯlt plural gestalten -ᵊn or gestalts
or gestalts : a structure, arrangement, or pattern of physical, biological, or psychological phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional unit with properties not derivable by summation of its parts