English

Noun

Gestalt

1. Alternative letter-case form of gestalt

German

Etymology

From Middle High German gestalt, the past participle of stellen (modern stellen, gestellt) used substantively.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡəˈʃtalt/

Noun

Gestalt f ‎(genitive Gestalt, plural Gestalten)

1. shape, form
2. figure
3. image of some person
4. person, character
   • 1918, Elisabeth von Heyking, Die Orgelpfeifen, in: Zwei Erzählungen, Phillipp Reclam jun. Verlag, page 35:

     Auf dem Bahnhof dann, in dem sich senkenden Nebel, ein Gewühl von Pferden und grauen Gestalten, das zuerst unentwirrbar schien und sich dann doch rasch ordnete.

     On the station then, in the sinking fog, a crowd of horses and gray characters that initially looked inextricable, but then put itself in order swiftly after all.

Declension

Derived terms

gestalten; Gestalter; Gestaltung

English

Alternative forms

• Gestalt

Noun

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)

   • This biography is the first one to consider fully the writer's gestalt.
   • The clusters of behavioral gestalten... the probability factors... the subtypes of crimes... the constellations of criminal subtypes... — Jay Kirk, "Watching the Detectives", Harpers Magazine, Vol. 307, Iss. 1839; pg. 61, Aug, 2003

2. Shape, form

   • 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." — John L. Hess and Karen Hess, "The Taste of America", Grossman, New York, 1977
   • ... 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 ...— Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, "The Origins of Grammar", The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996
   • So different were our appearances and approaches and general gestalts that we had something of an epic rivalry from '74 through '77. — David Foster Wallace, "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again", Boston: Little, Brown and Co., Edition: 1st Back Bay ed., 1998

Derived terms

Translations