Meanings
- not comparableOf or relating to construction or to architecture.
- not comparablebiologyStructural.
- not comparablegeographyOf, relating to, or caused by large-scale movements of the Earth's (or a similar planet's) lithosphere.
A boiling hot rock planet with extreme tectonic activity, Parnassus is home to many volcanic mountains. Surface scans reveal several geothermal and solar power stations, tapping the planet's abundant energy.
2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Parnassus1 more example
At some point, Venus may have had its own form of plate tectonics – possibly different from the plate tectonics here on Earth. Water and rock measurements obtained from the DAVINCI mission, combined with the Venus global mapping information by NASA’s VERITAS mission, another recently selected mission to Venus that is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, can be used to decipher how these tectonic patterns may have operated on Venus, and why the planet was unable to sustain them in a fashion similar to Earth.
2021 October 20, “NASA’s DAVINCI Explores Ten Mysteries of Venus”, in NASA, archived from the original on 20 Oct 2021 - figurativelynot comparableMomentous, utter, vast.
But it would be a mistake to imagine that we are benignly coming full circle, or even that we are finding that the old ways are still the most efficient. A tectonic shift has occurred.
2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveof or pertaining to construction or architecture
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*teḱ-“to make”
- Ancient Greekτέκτων“carpenter, joiner, maker”
- Ancient Greekτεκτονικός“pertaining to building”
- Late Latintectonicus
- Englishtectonic
1650s, in sense of building, from Late Latin tectonicus, from Ancient Greek τεκτονικός (tektonikós, “pertaining to building”), from Ancient Greek τέκτων (téktōn, “carpenter, joiner, maker”), from Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- (“to make”) (from which also texture). In sense of geology, attested 1894. By surface analysis, Ancient Greek τέκτων (téktōn) + -ic (“pertaining to”).
More words from Late Latin, Ancient Greek, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian строителен, архитектурен
- строителен (stroitelen)relating to construction or architecture
- архитектурен (arhitekturen)relating to construction or architecture
- тектоничен (tektoničen)(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Catalan tectònic
- tectònic(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Chinese Mandarin 地殼構造 /地壳构造
- 地殼構造 /地壳构造relating to construction or architecture
Czech tektonický
- tektonický(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Danish tektonisk
- tektonisk(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Dutch tektonisch
- tektonisch(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Finnish tektoninen
- tektoninen(geology) relating to large-scale movements
French tectonique
- tectonique(geology) relating to large-scale movements
German architektonisch, tektonisch
- architektonischrelating to construction or architecture
- tektonisch(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Hungarian tektonikus
- tektonikus(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Irish teicteonach
- teicteonach(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Italian tettonico
- tettonico(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Latvian tektonisks
- tektonisks(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Norwegian Bokmål tektonisk
- tektonisk(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Polish tektoniczny
- tektoniczny(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Portuguese tectónico, tectônico
- tectónicorelating to construction or architecture
- tectônicorelating to construction or architecture
Russian тектони́ческий
- тектони́ческий (tektoníčeskij)(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Spanish tectónico, tectónico
- tectónicorelating to construction or architecture
- tectónico(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Swedish arkitektonisk, tektonisk
- arkitektoniskrelating to construction or architecture
- tektoniskrelating to construction or architecture
- tektonisk(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Ukrainian тектоні́чний
- тектоні́чний (tektoníčnyj)(geology) relating to large-scale movements
Cite this entry
tectonic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tectonic
“tectonic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tectonic. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tectonic,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tectonic.
Source: tectonic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.