used to say that a particular thing, when considered as a whole, is more important, better, etc. than you would expect from looking at the individual parts that make it up

He has built a global operation that is clearly bigger than the sum of its parts. 他建立了一套全球运作体系，并不是把各地区的活动相加起来那么简单。

She believes that the Catholic faith is more than the sum of its dogmas. 她相信天主教信仰并非几条信条那么简单。