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View synonyms for tectonic

tectonic

[ tek-ton-ik ]

adjective

  1. of or relating to building or construction; constructive; architectural.
  2. Geology.
    1. pertaining to the structure of the earth's crust.
    2. referring to the forces or conditions within the earth that cause movements of the crust.
    3. designating the results of such movements:

      tectonic valleys.



tectonic

/ tɛkˈtɒnɪk /

adjective

  1. denoting or relating to construction or building
  2. geology
    1. (of landforms, rock masses, etc) resulting from distortion of the earth's crust due to forces within it
    2. (of processes, movements, etc) occurring within the earth's crust and causing structural deformation
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


tectonic

/ tĕk-tŏnĭk /

  1. Relating to the forces involved in plate tectonics or the structural features resulting from them.


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Derived Forms

  • tecˈtonically, adverb
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Other Words From

  • tec·toni·cal·ly adverb
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Word History and Origins

Origin of tectonic1

1650–60; < Late Latin tectonicus < Greek tektonikós pertaining to construction, equivalent to tekton- (stem of téktōn ) carpenter + -ikos -ic
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Word History and Origins

Origin of tectonic1

C17: from Late Latin tectonicus, from Greek tektonikos belonging to carpentry, from tektōn a builder
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Example Sentences

Some say that hardened extremists are often beyond reach until a tectonic shift in their own lives forces self-reflection.

The Americas are moving away from Europe and Africa by a few centimeters each year, as the tectonic plates underlying those continents drift apart.

Earth’s happens to include the powerful cycle of plate tectonics.

We’ll be looking back at transformative moments in science over the last century, starting in this issue with the emergence of the theory of plate tectonics in the 1960s.

Setting aside the tectonic political moment, there’s plenty of activity inside the world of startups we need to discuss.

But even without help from a restless tectonic plate, folks in the Napa Valley get easily agitated.

Some time ago, say a few million years ago, several tectonic plates collided.

Mars has no tectonic plates—no continents, in other words—and no ginormous moon.

Underneath our feet tectonic plates shift, magma bubbles, water boils, and both regularly erupt.

This here is tectonic heat, a contrast hitting at the heart of why we love sport in the first place.

That tectonic earthquakes are closely connected with the formation of faults seems now established beyond doubt.

In all respects, tectonic earthquakes differ widely from the Ischian shocks.

Distinctions, so great as these are, evidently remove the Ischian shocks from the category of tectonic earthquakes.

An important tectonic principle underlies the development of the phenomena we have just been reviewing.

In the tectonic structure of Asia the Kuen-lun forms, as it were, the backbone of the continent.

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tectiformtectonic boundary