escalate
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: Back-formation from escalator.
Inflected forms:
form: escalates
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: escalating
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: escalated
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: escalated
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: To increase (something) in extent or intensity; to intensify or step up.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: Violence escalated during the election.
The shooting escalated the existing hostility.
A small fight escalated into a big fight.
"Operating the WCML at this intensity makes it challenging to maintain acceptable performance levels, resulting in a frustratingly unreliable service for passengers. Minor disruption can escalate into significant delays because a train running only a few minutes late can miss its slot across a junction, resulting in a snowballing effect across the network."
In another sense, public-health workers have been facing escalating hostility since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
gloss: In technical support, to transfer a customer, a problem, etc. to the next higher level of authority
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The tech 1 escalated the caller to a tech 2.
gloss: To climb.
pos: verb
tags: uncommon
examples: Thus, actually a prior uncounselled misdemeanor conviction may often prove to be a boon to one escalating the ladder of crime to the point where he has been convicted of a major aggravated offense.
They escalated upstairs to the Mall coffee tables.
Firms move to higher and higher levels of conflict in each arena, as if they are escalating up a ladder with each rung representing the new level of competition introduced by the last competitive maneuver.
James worked through the basics, escalating up the ladder of complex moves.
We were escalating up a few hundred feet into the canyon.
“Pretty soon, I ended up on the committee, and from there it was pretty much escalating up the ladder as district chair; sponsor chair; and two, two-year terms as ladies state chair,” Sandi says.
Unlike everybody else, I moved in the opposite direction, escalating the ladder leading to the roof-top, so I’d watch the fireworks.
The soul’s hand was within a few feet from his hand as he had not noticed that the souls were escalating up to where he was and as his soul screamed at him to look away.
For needs of substantial natural resources such as oil, which can guarantee social peace in a majority of oil producing Arab States, Morocco would not be enjoying the position it has now on the international scene, had it not been for the fact that it has escalated the ladder in matters pertaining to democracy and economic liberalization.
Escalating up the ladder, she looked straight into Alex’s eyes.
In the eyes of many Americans, the Blacks have been associated with poverty, backwardness and violence, even though many of them have escalated the ladder of success into the Middle Class, having realized the American dream in terms of prosperity, education, jobs, social and political positions and even attained the presidency with Barack Obama (2008-16).
I don’t waste any time escalating ladders; / I break their portal chains when invading their forts / And tumble down their walls just like a ram batters / And wrestle their towers, ignoring the blatter / Of the great many folks; they shield from my efforts.
gloss: To move by escalator.
pos: verb
tags: rare
examples: Escalator after escalator flowed up to the heights above, […] Dov escalated up beside me, scowling.
There were people just about everywhere, packing the garish fluorescent-lit corridors, riding in humming golf carts, escalating up and down escalators, floating along on those George Jetson moving sidewalk thingies.
Escalating up the up escalator at Green Park Tube station was a hundred times better than walking up two loads of steps at Oxford Circus.
Related words: escalator
scale
Derived words: de-escalate
escalatingly
escalation
escalatory
reescalate
unescalated
Translations: