総体
Meanings
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.
We need to understand society as a single whole.
on the whole; generally; all in all
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.
All in all, this year's sales are not bad.
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.
In older writing, 総体 may be used to mean “in the first place,” as in “the plan was unreasonable from the start.”
Usage patterns
- 〈事〉を総体として見るto view something as a whole
This issue needs to be viewed as a whole.
- 総体として〈言える／評価できる〉to say/judge on the whole
On the whole, one can say this year's performance was good.