sum of its parts
Whole from components
The phrase appears almost exclusively in two fixed expressions.
If something is greater than the sum of its parts, its components combine to create something more valuable or effective than they would individually—a team whose chemistry produces results no member could achieve alone.
If something is less than the sum of its parts, the whole disappoints despite promising components: The movie had a great cast and director but was somehow less than the sum of its parts.
- pieceA portion or segment
- piece by pieceIn separate small stages
- joinConnect or enlist
- assemblyConstructing from components
- put togetherCombine into one
building blocks · whole · big picture · economies of scale · more than meets the eye · component · element · puzzle · irreducible · segment · the whole nine yards · reductionism · fraction · combine · constituent · unite · taken apart · integration
sum of its partsgestalt
Integrated perceptual whole
synergy · holism · emergence · systems thinking · organicism
sums, summed, summing, summation, summations, part, parts, parted, parting