escalate

verb

es·ca·late | \ˈe-skə-ˌlāt,

nonstandard -skyə-

escalated; escalating

Definition of escalate

: to increase in extent, volume, number, amount, intensity, or scope a little war threatens to escalate into a huge ugly one— Arnold Abrams

transitive verb

: expand sense 2

Other Words from escalate Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about escalate

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Other Words from escalate

escalation \ˌe-skə-ˈlā-shən,

nonstandard -skyə- \ noun

escalatory \ˈe-skə-lə-ˌtȯr-ē,

nonstandard -skyə- \ adjective

Examples of escalate in a Sentence

The conflict has escalated into an all-out war. a time of escalating tensions We are trying not to escalate the violence. Salaries of leading executives have continued to escalate. The cold weather has escalated fuel prices.

Recent Examples on the Web

Bobby Taylor, 58, and Troy Rose, 25, got into an argument that quickly escalated and led to Taylor shooting Rose, police say. — Cincinnati.com, "Two men injured after Friday night shooting in Pendleton County, police say," 14 July 2018 The lawsuit said the poor conditions, frequent physical searches and verbal abuse by staff often escalated into confrontations, as the frustrated children acted out. — USA TODAY, "Young immigrants detained in Virginia center allege abuse," 21 June 2018 The lawsuit said the poor conditions, frequent physical searches and verbal abuse by staff often escalated into confrontations, as the frustrated children acted out. — Michael Biesecker, BostonGlobe.com, "Young immigrants detained in Virginia center allege abuse," 21 June 2018 The city projects that pension costs will escalate by at least 49 percent over the next five years. — Roland Li, SFChronicle.com, "Eastline, bigger than Salesforce Tower, wants to transform Oakland," 6 July 2018 Critics of hack backs warn that such retaliation could escalate into all-out conflict. — Robert Hackett, Fortune, "Cyber Saturday—China Hack Backs, Laptop Cam Spying, Elon Musk's Saboteur," 23 June 2018 The crew goes to some extreme measures: costumes, booby traps, body doubles and fake-outs escalate during Jerry’s wedding weekend. — Katie Walsh, Detroit Free Press, "Review: Playful ‘Tag’ is summer fluff with a heart," 15 June 2018 Roughly every nine seconds, a dialogue option appeared that could escalate the showdown, but our demo's handler stuck to the cooler road. — Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica, "Cyberpunk 2077 world premiere: 50 minutes of William Gibson-level insanity," 14 June 2018 When an altercation escalated between two males, both pulled out firearms and started shooting. — Lisa M. Bolton, Washington Post, "Prince William County," 13 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'escalate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.