holistic theory
- noun
- /hoʊˈlɪstɪk ˈθɪəri/
- Specialized
:
teoría holística
- The teacher explained her holistic theory of education, emphasizing that each student's learning style matters within the larger classroom community.
Examples
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In his book, he presents a holistic theory that considers both the psychological and social aspects of health.
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Technically, Love: Watson's 9 seminal holistic theory of human caring offers a refreshing alternative to the medical model of healthcare and appears to be a suitable framework from which patient-focused care could be operationalized.
Academic text (2007) -
The artist believes in a holistic theory of creation, where every brushstroke contributes to the overall meaning of the painting.
Synonyms
1
7.9
Seeing something as a whole instead of separate parts
How Holistic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward adjective + noun composition: 'holistic' (emphasizing relationships among parts) modifies 'theory' (a set of ideas), so the combined meaning — a theory that views parts in relation to the whole — is directly derivable from the constituents. This is a common compositional pattern across languages and uses no idiomatic shift, so a B1 learner who knows both words should understand it.
Etymology
The phrase holistic theory comes from the image of a jigsaw puzzle: one piece makes little sense by itself, but the whole picture shows the meaning. Holistic points to the 'whole' and theory is an idea, so the phrase means you must look at the whole to understand the 'parts'.