tectonic

adjective

tec·​ton·​ic tek-ˈtä-nik How to pronounce tectonic (audio)
1
: of or relating to tectonics
2
: having a strong and widespread impact
a tectonic shift in voting patterns
tectonically adverb

Examples of tectonic in a Sentence

There has been a recent tectonic shift in voting patterns. a tectonic shift in societal trends occurred in the 1960s
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The Afar region is an active rifting environment — the tectonic plates beneath its earth are actively pulling apart and exposing older layers of sediment that shed light on almost 5 million years of evolution, Reed said. Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 16 Aug. 2025 Here, the Columbia River slices through the Cascade Range, the North American section of the Pacific Ring of Fire—a belt of tectonic activity that contains 75 percent of the world’s volcanoes. Becky Cooper, Travel + Leisure, 12 Aug. 2025 On each side, there will be an in-depth look at Iceland's volcanic geology and mid-Atlantic tectonic setting, with the itinerary also including Lake Mývatn's lava fields and the rift between the Eurasian and North American plates. Jamie Carter, Space.com, 4 July 2025 Explaining that uptick is a challenge, given the region sits in the middle of the North American tectonic plate rather than along a volatile fault zone line, according to the Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis. Mark Price, Charlotte Observer, 12 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for tectonic

Word History

Etymology

probably borrowed from German tektonisch "pertaining to broader structural features of the earth's crust," earlier "of building or construction," borrowed from Late Latin tectonicus "of a builder or architect," borrowed from Greek tektonikós "of a carpenter, skilled in carpentry or building," from tekton-, téktōn "woodworker, carpenter, craftsman" + -ikos -ic entry 1; téktōn going back to Indo-European *tetḱ-on- (whence also Sanskrit takṣan-, tákṣā "carpenter," Avestan tašan-, tašā "builder, creator"), n-stem derivative from a verbal base *tetḱ- "fashion, produce," whence Sanskrit tákṣati "(s/he) fashions, builds from wood," Avestan tāšt "(s/he) forms," Latvian tešu, tèst "to hew," Old Church Slavic tešǫ, tesati "to hew, fell," (with o-grade) Lithuanian tašýti "to hew"

Note: A root of the form *tetḱ- would be peculiar for Indo-European. Helmut Rix, et al., (Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2. Ausgabe, Wiesbaden, 2001) rescue the situation by hypothesizing that *tetḱ- represents a pre-Indo-European reduplicated aorist, *te-tḱ-, of a root *teḱ-, seen in unreduplicated form in Greek téknon "child, young of an animal" and étekon, tekeîn, aorist of tíktō, tíktein "to give birth to, beget, generate" (see dystocia). However—aside from the certain correspondence of Greek téktōn with Vedic Sanskrit takṣan-, Avestan tašan- —all other outcomes of this supposed root can be accounted for as *teḱ-s-, an extended form of *teḱ-. To explain this anomaly, Andrew Sihler (New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, 1995, p. 225) hypothesizes that téktōn is a conflation of a regular derivative *texōn and an unattested agentive derivative *téktōr, going back to *teks-tor-, (with cluster simplification as in hektós "sixth" corresponding to héx "six"). Traditionally added to the compared forms given in the etymology above are Latin texere "to weave, form by plaiting or twining, construct" and other words (see at text entry 1). See also technical entry 1.

First Known Use

1894, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of tectonic was in 1894

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Cite this Entry

“Tectonic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tectonic. Accessed 28 Aug. 2025.

Kids Definition

tectonic

adjective
tec·​ton·​ic tek-ˈtän-ik How to pronounce tectonic (audio)
: of or relating to tectonics
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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