Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To increase in intensity, extent, or amount.
- intransitive verb To increase, enlarge, or intensify.
- intransitive verb To pass (a transaction or case) on to a higher level in an organizational hierarchy.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb to
increase (something) inextent orintensity ; tointensify orstep up - verb in technical support, to transfer a telephone caller to the next higher level of authority
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb increase in extent or intensity
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The term escalate became popular during the Vietnam War and refers to the United States' significantly increasing its involvement, but the term also carries an undertone of blunder.
Site Home tzink 2011
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Among an estimated eight Republicans who've publicly said they, too, oppose the president's plan, several told CNN the word escalate in the resolution was a red flag they would not be able to support.
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As things escalate from the merely unacceptable to the downright outrageous, however, Andrea begins to realize that the job a million girls would die for may just kill her.
The Devil Wears Prada: Summary and book reviews of The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. 2003
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Here is where the. system can escalate from a clash over some incident in Berlin to wholesale nuclear annihilation.
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There is nothing new in Haikal's argument, this salary issue reported by many American writers also, but Jordan's anger came because this issue raised for the first time on popular Aljazeera TV in Arabic. escalate the problem by lowering its representation in the coming Arab summit in Doha.
Roads to Iraq 2009
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Big 4 labels escalate attack on The Pirate Bay next »
RIAA vs Diamond Rio 2009
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He talks in detail about the way things escalate, which is true for most of us.
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Big 4 labels escalate attack on The Pirate Bay p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music who, since Day One, have been the leaders in entertainment cartel attacks on the online P2P sharing communities, have upped the ante against The Pirate Bay four, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi (top), Frederik Neij (left), Gottfrid Svartholm Warg (centre) and Carl Lundström.
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And as this situation begins to escalate, not to mention the U.S. troops there as well, as this situation begins to escalate, that is on everyone's mind in that part of the world.
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This problem will only escalate, which is why I am trying to ascertain exactly what the Iconians really want.
Doors Into Chaos Robert Greenberger 2001
super-charolastra commented on the word escalate
I hate it when this gets used transitively. Gah!
February 27, 2009