tectonic
[tek-ton-ik]
- of or relating to building or construction; constructive; architectural.
- Geology.
- pertaining to the structure of the earth's crust.
- referring to the forces or conditions within the earth that cause movements of the crust.
- designating the results of such movements: tectonic valleys.
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Origin of tectonic
1650–60; < Late Latin tectonicus < Greek tektonikós pertaining to construction, equivalent to tekton- (stem of téktōn) carpenter + -ikos -ic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
skeletalconstitutionalarchitecturalbasicanatomicalformativeorganicanatomicformalisticformationaltectonicExamples from the Web for tectonic
Contemporary Examples
Mars has no tectonic plates—no continents, in other words—and no ginormous moon.
This here is tectonic heat, a contrast hitting at the heart of why we love sport in the first place.
The 68-million-year-old remnants of dinosaur feet were pushed upward by tectonic activity.
For how long should one stand on principle when tectonic shifts rumble below?
But I appreciate the tectonic significance Jobs has had and that Apple possesses.
Historical Examples
They owe their formation to tectonic movements, subsidences of the surface.
The Argentine RepublicPierre Denis
The earthquakes in New Zealand are evidently of the tectonic type.
The Wonder Book of Volcanoes and EarthquakesEdwin J. Houston
That tectonic earthquakes are closely connected with the formation of faults seems now established beyond doubt.
A Study of Recent EarthquakesCharles Davison
In all respects, tectonic earthquakes differ widely from the Ischian shocks.
A Study of Recent EarthquakesCharles Davison
Distinctions, so great as these are, evidently remove the Ischian shocks from the category of tectonic earthquakes.
A Study of Recent EarthquakesCharles Davison
tectonic
- denoting or relating to construction or building
- geology
- (of landforms, rock masses, etc) resulting from distortion of the earth's crust due to forces within it
- (of processes, movements, etc) occurring within the earth's crust and causing structural deformation
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Word Origin
C17: from Late Latin tectonicus, from Greek tektonikos belonging to carpentry, from tektōn a builder
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for tectonic
adj.
1650s, "of or relating to building," from Late Latin tectonicus, from Greek tektonikos "pertaining to building," from tekton (genitive tektonos) "builder, carpenter," from PIE root *tek- "to make" (see texture). The geological sense is recorded from 1894.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
tectonic
[tĕk-tŏn′ĭk]
- Relating to the forces involved in plate tectonics or the structural features resulting from them.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.