tectonic
Americanadjective
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of or relating to building or construction; constructive; architectural.
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Geology.
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pertaining to the structure of the earth's crust.
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referring to the forces or conditions within the earth that cause movements of the crust.
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designating the results of such movements.
tectonic valleys.
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adjective
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denoting or relating to construction or building
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geology
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(of landforms, rock masses, etc) resulting from distortion of the earth's crust due to forces within it
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(of processes, movements, etc) occurring within the earth's crust and causing structural deformation
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Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tectonic
1650–60; < Late Latin tectonicus < Greek tektonikós pertaining to construction, equivalent to tekton- (stem of téktōn ) carpenter + -ikos -ic
Explanation
No, it’s not the latest electro-dance craze from Japan; the word tectonic refers to the earth's crust and the big hunks of it that shift around. Even though it’s popular with the geology crowd, tectonic comes from the Greek word for "building." That can help you remember that the earth's crust consists of the building blocks we live on — the continents. Tectonic plates are the large sections of the earth’s surface that shift. If you live in a part of the world that sits on the edge of a tectonic plate, like the San Andreas Fault in California, you’ve probably felt an earthquake or two.
Vocabulary lists containing tectonic
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Brace Yourself: Earthquake Words
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Geological Features
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As the African and Arabian tectonic plates traveled northward and approached the final stages of their collision with Asia, the connections between these landmasses began to change.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 1, 2026
Researchers suggest that this fault may mark a major tectonic boundary connected to changes in the ancient Neo-Tethys Ocean system.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026
Earth's outer shell is divided into enormous tectonic plates that slowly move across the planet.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026
One possibility is that tectonic plates generate substantially more heat at relatively shallow depths than scientists previously believed.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026
They emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, when tectonic shifts in the economy created mountains of wealth.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
