tectonics

noun (used with a singular verb)

1. the science or art of assembling, shaping, or ornamenting materials in construction; the constructive arts in general.
2. structural geology.

noun (functioning as singular)

1. the art and science of construction or building
2. the study of the processes by which the earth’s crust has attained its present structureSee also plate tectonics

n.1899 in the geological sense, from tectonic (also see -ics); earlier it meant “building or constructive arts in general” (1850).

1. The branch of geology that deals with the broad structural and deformational features of the outer part of the Earth, their origins, and the relationships between them. See more at plate tectonics.