Link Centre Dictionary

holism

ho·lism

uncommon

noun

1.

the theory that the parts of any whole cannot exist and cannot be understood except in their relation to the whole

  • “holism holds that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”
  • “holistic theory has been applied to ecology and language and mental states”
Synonyms
Antonyms

Origin

From hol- (“whole, entire, total”) + -ism. Coined in 1926 by Jan Smuts.

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.