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

This from the study caught my eye: Some areas along the Pacific coastline are actually rising slowly due to how the tectonic plates are moving. —Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 1 May 2025

This geological uplift, a consequence of the interactions of the tectonic plates, outpaces sea-level rise in many areas, so the PNW has been relatively shielded from effects such as extreme flooding events or coastal erosion. —Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 30 Apr. 2025

Well Before Tectonic Plates Began To Shift Long before Earth’s surface fractured into tectonic plates, the Pilbara was already here — rising and reorganizing under conditions unlike anything seen today. —Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 28 Apr. 2025

That’s like the tectonic plates shifting underneath her. —James Grebey, Vulture, 24 Apr. 2025

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

Rhymes for tectonic

• atonic
• benthonic
• bionic
• bosonic
• bubonic
• canonic
• carbonic
• cyclonic
• demonic
• dystonic
• hadronic
• harmonic

Kids Definition

tectonic

adjective

tec·​ton·​ic tek-ˈtän-ik 

: of or relating to tectonics