tectonic

adjective

tec·​ton·​ic tek-ˈtä-nik 

1

: of or relating to tectonics

2

: having a strong and widespread impact

a tectonic shift in voting patterns

tectonically

tek-ˈtä-ni-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Synonyms

• big
• consequential
• earth-shattering
• earthshaking
• eventful
• historic
• important
• major
• material
• meaningful
• momentous
• monumental
• much
• significant
• substantial
• weighty

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

That can illustrate subtle tectonic plate action between major earthquakes, illustrating how the Pacific plate, where L.A. is located, is nudging northwest relative to the North American plate, where the Mojave Desert is located. —Rong-Gong Lin Ii, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2024

Even Cobb’s own great-grandson approves of baseball’s tectonic shift to the right side of racial history. —Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 30 May 2024

The Reykjanes Peninsula experiences a 1,000-year cycle of volcanic activity as the two tectonic plates beneath it get pulled apart, Live Science’s Hannah Osborne reported in November. —Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 May 2024

The movement of tectonic plates was felt as north as Boston and reached down through Baltimore. —Sam Cohn, Baltimore Sun, 9 Apr. 2024

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

Kids Definition

tectonic

adjective

tec·​ton·​ic tek-ˈtän-ik 

: of or relating to tectonics