"gestalt" meaning in English

See gestalt in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ɡəˈʃtælt/ [UK], /ɡəˈʃtɑːlt/ [UK], /-ˈst-/ [UK], /ɡəˈʃtɔlt/ [US], /ɡəˈstɔlt/ [US] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gestalt.wav [Southern-England] Forms: gestalts [plural], gestalten [plural]
Etymology: Borrowed from German Gestalt (“shape, figure, form”). Etymology templates: {{bor|en|de|Gestalt|t=shape, figure, form}} German Gestalt (“shape, figure, form”) Head templates: {{en-noun|s|gestalten}} gestalt (plural gestalts or gestalten)
  1. 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) Translations (collection of entities that creates a unified concept): 格式塔 (géshìtǎ) (Chinese Mandarin), gestalt [common-gender] (Danish), olemus (Finnish), profil [feminine] (French), gestalt [feminine] (French), Gestalt [feminine] (German), ゲシュタルト (geshutaruto) (Japanese), gestalt [masculine] [psychology, human-sciences, sciences] (Norwegian), postać (Polish), гешта́льт (geštálʹt) [masculine] (Russian), gestalt [common-gender] (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-gestalt-en-noun-j2NUyUGq Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 56 44 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 71 29 Disambiguation of 'collection of entities that creates a unified concept': 87 13
  2. Shape, form.
    Sense id: en-gestalt-en-noun-Od~3dV5v
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: Gestalt Derived forms: gestaltic, gestalting, gestalt psychology, Gestalt therapy, gestalt therapy

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for gestalt meaning in English (6.5kB)

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "gestaltic"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "gestalting"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "gestalt psychology"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "Gestalt therapy"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "gestalt therapy"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "de",
        "3": "Gestalt",
        "t": "shape, figure, form"
      },
      "expansion": "German Gestalt (“shape, figure, form”)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from German Gestalt (“shape, figure, form”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gestalts",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gestalten",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
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  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "s",
        "2": "gestalten"
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      "expansion": "gestalt (plural gestalts or gestalten)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "56 44",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "This biography is the first one to consider fully the writer's gestalt.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1980, George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, chapter 15, in Metaphors We Live By",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1996, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, The Origins of Grammar, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press",
          "text": "... depending on the kinds of speech children hear directed to them, they may first learn unanalyzed \"gestalts\" (e.g., social expressions like \"What's that?\" uttered as a single unit) instead of learning single words that are then freely recombined ...",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003 August 5, Jay Kirk, “Watching the Detectives”, in Harpers Magazine, volume 307, number 1839, page 61",
          "text": "The clusters of behavioral gestalten... the probability factors... the subtypes of crimes... the constellations of criminal subtypes...",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Jonathan Nasaw, Fear Itself",
          "text": "Obviously it was related to the entire gestalt of Simon's polyphobia and compensatory counterphobia. The boys used to watch horror movies on late-night television […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "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)"
      ],
      "id": "en-gestalt-en-noun-j2NUyUGq",
      "links": [
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          "personality",
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        ],
        [
          "entity",
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        ],
        [
          "being",
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        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "géshìtǎ",
          "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
          "word": "格式塔"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "gestalt"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
          "word": "olemus"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "profil"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "gestalt"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Gestalt"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "geshutaruto",
          "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
          "word": "ゲシュタルト"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "topics": [
            "psychology",
            "human-sciences",
            "sciences"
          ],
          "word": "gestalt"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
          "word": "postać"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "geštálʹt",
          "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "гешта́льт"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
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          "word": "gestalt"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
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        {
          "ref": "1977, John L. Hess, Karen Hess, The Taste of America, New York: Grossman",
          "text": "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.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998, David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, 1st Back Bay edition, Boston: Little, Brown and Co.",
          "text": "So different were our appearances and approaches and general gestalts that we had something of an epic rivalry from '74 through '77.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Shape, form."
      ],
      "id": "en-gestalt-en-noun-Od~3dV5v",
      "links": [
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          "Shape",
          "shape"
        ],
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          "form",
          "form"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɡəˈʃtælt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɡəˈʃtɑːlt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˈst-/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɡəˈʃtɔlt/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɡəˈstɔlt/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gestalt.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/74/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-gestalt.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-gestalt.wav.mp3",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "Gestalt"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "gestalt"
  ],
  "word": "gestalt"
}
{
  "categories": [
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    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
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    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English nouns with irregular plurals",
    "English terms borrowed from German",
    "English terms derived from German",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "gestaltic"
    },
    {
      "word": "gestalting"
    },
    {
      "word": "gestalt psychology"
    },
    {
      "word": "Gestalt therapy"
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    {
      "word": "gestalt therapy"
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      "expansion": "German Gestalt (“shape, figure, form”)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from German Gestalt (“shape, figure, form”).",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "gestalts",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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    },
    {
      "form": "gestalten",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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        "English terms with usage examples"
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          "text": "This biography is the first one to consider fully the writer's gestalt.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1980, George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, chapter 15, in Metaphors We Live By",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1996, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, The Origins of Grammar, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press",
          "text": "... depending on the kinds of speech children hear directed to them, they may first learn unanalyzed \"gestalts\" (e.g., social expressions like \"What's that?\" uttered as a single unit) instead of learning single words that are then freely recombined ...",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003 August 5, Jay Kirk, “Watching the Detectives”, in Harpers Magazine, volume 307, number 1839, page 61",
          "text": "The clusters of behavioral gestalten... the probability factors... the subtypes of crimes... the constellations of criminal subtypes...",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Jonathan Nasaw, Fear Itself",
          "text": "Obviously it was related to the entire gestalt of Simon's polyphobia and compensatory counterphobia. The boys used to watch horror movies on late-night television […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
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      ],
      "links": [
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          "ref": "1977, John L. Hess, Karen Hess, The Taste of America, New York: Grossman",
          "text": "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.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998, David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, 1st Back Bay edition, Boston: Little, Brown and Co.",
          "text": "So different were our appearances and approaches and general gestalts that we had something of an epic rivalry from '74 through '77.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Shape, form."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "Shape",
          "shape"
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          "form"
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      ]
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      "ipa": "/ɡəˈʃtælt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɡəˈʃtɑːlt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
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      "tags": [
        "UK"
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      "ipa": "/ɡəˈstɔlt/",
      "tags": [
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "Gestalt"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "géshìtǎ",
      "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
      "word": "格式塔"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "gestalt"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
      "word": "olemus"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "profil"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "gestalt"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Gestalt"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "geshutaruto",
      "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
      "word": "ゲシュタルト"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "psychology",
        "human-sciences",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "word": "gestalt"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
      "word": "postać"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "geštálʹt",
      "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "гешта́льт"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "collection of entities that creates a unified concept",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "gestalt"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "gestalt"
  ],
  "word": "gestalt"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.