Pronounced: KAV-uhl, verb/noun
Notes: I’ve definitely run across this word, but had the wrong idea (probably from the context)
Yesterday’s word
The word gesamtkunstwerk is “a word of art that makes use of many different art forms”
First usage
This word came into English in the 1930s
Background / Comments
As you no doubt know, this is a German word. It tends to be associated with Richard Wagner, who used it (the German word) to describe his ideal of opera as a complete work of art; a kind of uniting of music, song, dance, visual arts, and poetry. The word is a combination of gesamt (total; whole) plus Kunst (art) plus Werk (work).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 