holistic
adjective
Did you know?
Look at the Big Picture With Holistic
"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts" expresses the essence of holism, a term coined by the great South African general and statesman Jan Smuts in 1926. Holism generally opposes the Western tendency toward analysis, the breaking down of wholes into parts sometimes to the point that "you can't see the forest for the trees". Holism is an important concept in the sciences and social sciences, and especially in medicine. Holistic medicine tries to treat the "whole person" rather than focusing too narrowly on single symptoms. It emphasizes the connections between the mind and the body, avoids the overuse of drugs, and has borrowed such practices from Eastern traditions as acupuncture and yoga.
Examples of holistic in a Sentence
Gareth Cook, Boston Globe, 9 June 2002
The Gaia hypothesis is certainly top-down and holistic, and it's now generally accepted … Organisms have not just adapted to different physical environments; they also modify and improve the environment for their own good—just like people.
—Tom Ghaffin, Natural History, October 1998
People with supermarket carts. When did these things come out of the stores and into the streets. She saw these things everywhere … filled with living trivia, the holistic dregs of everything if that is correctly put.
—Don DeLillo, Mao II, 1991
Holistic medicine attempts to treat both the mind and the body.
We need to take a more holistic approach to improving our schools.
William Mullane, USA TODAY, 12 Apr. 2024
In the small amount of premarket testing that was done, success was focused on prevention of pregnancy, while more holistic considerations, such as pain management and device removal procedures, were largely ignored.
—Catherine M. Klapperich, STAT, 12 Apr. 2024
Through her involvement with the international organization Teen Star, which runs holistic programs that center on relationships, emotions and fertility awareness, she's worked for more than four decades to shed the taboo nature of discussing the science behind how the female body works.
—Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 11 Apr. 2024
This is primarily done through holistic financial planning.
—Jordan Priddy, Kansas City Star, 10 Apr. 2024
The non-profit has grown since the fund was implemented last year with programming in New York, an annual fishing trip, two retreats in Yosemite, and its first holistic retreat that aligned with the super moon in August in Palm Springs at the Ace Hotel, and so much more.
—Kerane Marcellus, Essence, 10 Apr. 2024
Music gets into one’s head—literally—when all the technical aspects of a headphone’s design fall by the wayside, and when a holistic sonic landscape unfolds without regard to which kind of transducer produces which frequencies.
—Robert Ross, Robb Report, 9 Apr. 2024
Now, economic forces are driving CMOs to develop deep financial literacy and a more holistic view of their job.
—Lila MacLellan, Fortune, 1 Apr. 2024
Hiring involves a series of sequential steps, each greatly impacting the end result, and improving the process demands a holistic view.
—Robert Satterwhite, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'holistic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Articles Related to holistic
Dictionary Entries Near holistic
Cite this Entry
“Holistic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/holistic. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
holistic
adjective
hol- + -istic
Medical Definition
holistic
adjective
Share