{
  "id": "team-spirit.excess",
  "term": "team spirit",
  "sense": "excess",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 15,
  "arena": "team",
  "domain": "social",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "a state where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, sustained by a self-model that treats the group as a single agent",
  "folk_gloss": "a feeling of unity and enthusiasm among a group of people",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "greater-than-the-sum.excess",
      "self-model.reflexive"
    ],
    "interaction": "when parts interact in a way that makes the whole exceed their individual contributions",
    "novel_properties": [
      "collective agency",
      "shared identity"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviet squad in a single game despite being outmatched individually.",
      "domain": "sports"
    },
    {
      "text": "Employees at Valve Corporation coordinate complex game development without formal managers, using shared principles and peer accountability.",
      "domain": "institutions"
    },
    {
      "text": "Ant colonies transport prey weighing hundreds of times more than any single ant through synchronized collaboration.",
      "domain": "biology"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "team spirit"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "phrases:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.7,
    "sources": [
      "folk phrase — the whole exceeding its parts"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-team-spirit.excess"
}