gestalt
noun
ge·stalt
| \ gə-ˈstält
, -ˈshtält, -ˈstȯlt, -ˈshtȯlt
\
, -ˈshtält, -ˈstȯlt, -ˈshtȯlt
\
plural gestalts
also gestalten\ -ˈstäl-tᵊn
, -ˈshtäl- , -ˈstȯl- , -ˈshtȯl- \
, -ˈshtäl- , -ˈstȯl- , -ˈshtȯl- \
Definition of gestalt
: 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
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 … the Old Hollywood gestalt, where daughters adored and romanticized their charismatic, powerful, often unavailable fathers. — Nora Johnson