tectonics

American  

[tek-ton-iks] / tɛkˈtɒn ɪks /

noun

(used with a singular verb)

1. the science or art of assembling, shaping, or ornamenting materials in construction; the constructive arts in general.

2. structural geology.

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tectonics British  

/ tɛkˈtɒnɪks /

noun

1. the art and science of construction or building

2. the study of the processes by which the earth's crust has attained its present structure See also plate tectonics

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tectonics Scientific  

/ tĕk-tŏn′ĭks /

1. The branch of geology that deals with the broad structural and deformational features of the outer part of the Earth, their origins, and the relationships between them.

2. See more at plate tectonics

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Etymology

Origin of tectonics

First recorded in 1625–35; see origin at tectonic, -ics

Example Sentences

Our beautiful encircling topography of mountains and hills is a bowl ready-made by ancient plate tectonics to be filled with smoke and smog.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

With this discovery, Milos stands out as one of the most important natural sites in the Mediterranean for exploring how tectonics, volcanism, and hydrothermal processes interact beneath the sea.

From Science Daily • Dec. 30, 2025

The resulting 1978 masterpiece—sublimely detailed and marvelously strange in its presentation of unseen ridges, troughs and endless plains—reflected the newly established theories of plate tectonics and continental drift.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025

These findings highlight a direct connection between deep-Earth processes and surface evolution, showing how plate tectonics, the carbon cycle, and biological development were intertwined over deep time.

From Science Daily • Oct. 28, 2025

It is not too much to say that geologists wouldn’t grasp the full implications of this thought for two hundred years, when finally they adopted plate tectonics.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson