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This phrase generally means that the construction of an entity is more important than the individual pieces of the entity on their own. For instance:

Lets say the human body is composed of bones, muscle and organs. Now individually, a spleen or a bicep can't do much. But if you put all of it together, you get a body that is capable of walking, talking, breathing, creating and inventing...the sum of which has the capacity to do far more than a pile of bones and muscle can.

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This means that the "whole thing" is bigger than the parts being added together.

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12y ago
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Q: What does 'The whole is greater than the sum of its parts' mean?
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