tectonic plates

[ (tek-ton-ik) ]

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

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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

How to use tectonic plates in a sentence

They seem to have service for eight of these elegant blue-and-white plates.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Patrons eat their cannoli slowly and deliberately, dabbing the powdered sugar on their plates with licked fingers.
De Robertis, a New York Great, Bids Farewell|Lizzie Crocker|December 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I said that our contract allowed us to use German license plates.
How the Fall of the Berlin Wall Radicalized Putin|Masha Gessen|November 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Her car is a Gold 2001 ford focus washington plates 495 YLY both back tires are donuts.
Did the Amber Lynn Coplin Murder Photos Sicken the Creeps of 4Chan?|Michael Daly|November 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST

He recalled one fundraising dinner where he and a fellow AIDS activist were served on paper plates with paper forks.
Gay Activist David Mixner: I Mercy Killed 8 People|Tim Teeman|October 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Cystin crystals are colorless, highly refractive, rather thick, hexagonal plates with well-defined edges.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
Upon addition of acetic acid they dissolve, and rhombic plates of uric acid appear.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
We dine late, and as there are a good many boarders, it takes some time always to change the plates.
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
The crystals are dark-brown rhombic plates lying singly or in crosses, and are easily recognized (Fig. 83).
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
Before that time we always put rope-yarn between the lap of the boiler-plates to make the seams tight.
Life of Richard Trevithick, Volume II (of 2)|Francis Trevithick