noun
A noun for something considered as one complete whole rather than as separate parts. Often used in formal or analytical writing with expressions such as 総体として.
社会を一つの総体として捉える必要がある。
We need to understand society as a single whole.
adverb
Adverbial use for giving an overall judgment after considering the whole situation. In modern Japanese, it often appears in the form 総体として or 総体に.
総体として、今年の売り上げは悪くない。
All in all, this year's sales are not bad.
adverb
from the start; from the outset; in the first place
Older or uncommon adverbial use meaning something like そもそも or もともと. Modern writing normally uses expressions such as そもそも, はじめから, or もともと instead.
古い文章では、「総体その計画には無理があった」のように、総体が「そもそも」の意味で使われることがある。
In older writing, 総体 may be used to mean “in the first place,” as in “the plan was unreasonable from the start.”