tectonic plates

[ (tek-ton-ik) ]

The dozen or so plates that make up the surface of the Earth. Their motion is studied in the field of plate tectonics.

QUIZZES

QUIZ YOURSELF ON THESE WORDS FROM BROWN GIRL DREAMING!

Visualize yourself passing this quiz on words from Jacqueline Woodson’s exquisite verse novel “Brown Girl Dreaming,” and then take the quiz to prove you can do it! (Because you can.)
Question 1 of 10
What does “barren” mean?
a cylindrical wooden container with slightly bulging sides.
Worn down by dullness, tedious repetition.
unproductive; unfruitful
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notes for tectonic plates

The plates are not the same as the continents. The North American plate, for example, extends from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean to the west coast of the United States and Canada. These plates are about thirty miles thick.

Words nearby tectonic plates

tectibranch, tectiform, tectonic, tectonic boundary, tectonic keratoplasty, tectonic plates, tectonics, tectonism, tectorial, tectorial membrane, tectorial membrane of cochlear duct
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.