On a sweaty, sticky night in the Bird's Nest, Bolt was out of the blocks quicker and opened up an unassailable lead over the first 100m before coming away down the straight and jabbing his thumbs at his chest as he crossed the line.
His 19.55 seconds was the fastest in the world this year, his speed and peerless championship class too good for American Gatlin, whose 19.74 was well outside his season's best.
Jamaican Bolt, who will also compete in the 4x100m relay, said: "It means a lot to me.
"I'm happy to be a 10-time World Championships gold medallist, especially when people have been saying I would lose.
"I had the utmost confidence. As long as my coach is confident, I'm super confident.
"The British people give me a lot of love and I will continue running fast."
South Africa's Anaso Jobodwana set a national record of 19.87, with Panama's Alonso Edwards three thousands of a second behind in fourth.
Britain's talented 20-year-old Zharnel Hughes, who trains with Bolt in Jamaica, ran a personal best of 20.02 for fifth in his first major final.
But this was all about the man metres in front, his 10th world gold just another astonishing number in a career without parallel.
For much of this season Bolt, 29, has been a struggling shadow of the man who has dominated both sprinting and his sport for the past seven years.
Coming into these championships he had raced only one 200m all summer, and that a lacklustre 20.13 in May.
Bolt's major individual titles
Olympic 100m champion: 2008, 2012
World 100m champion: 2009, 2013, 2015
Olympic 200m champion: 2008, 2012
World 200m champion: 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015
Gatlin, twice banned for doping, had run more than two tenths of a second faster than any other man in the field this year, and almost half a second quicker than Bolt.
Bolt had neither the times this summer nor the races, a pelvic injury restricting his season until just a month before these championships.
But in the stadium where he smashed Michael Johnson's long-standing world record in winning Olympic 200m gold seven years ago, he was out of the blocks quicker than Gatlin.
With the American two lanes inside him, he was able to relax down the straight and celebrate as Gatlin trailed behind him once again.
Gatlin went into Sunday's 100m final, part one of their showdown, as the dominant man in world sprinting.
But, having cracked under the immense pressure of that first battle, he was once again unable to peak when he needed it most, and at 33 years old he may never have a better chance of beating his sport's superstar.
Hughes, born in the British Dependent Territory of Anguilla, formally gained British citizenship in June this year and won the national trials in some style.
And in his first major global championship he has improved throughout the rounds to confirm his potential for big finals ahead.
He will have no better exemplar than Bolt, unstoppable here once again.
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