1
as in increases
to become greater in extent, volume, amount, or number
as the war between the two countries escalated, it threatened to become a global conflict
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in accelerates
to make greater in size, amount, or number
the president promised to escalate the government's program to combat the dreaded disease
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Recent Examples of escalates
This legal action escalates the ongoing conflict between OpenAI and Musk, who was a founding investor in the company.
—
Charlie Fink, Forbes.com, 12 Apr. 2025
But if the tariff war escalates, China will take its business elsewhere and leave West Virginia holding the bag.
—Ken Silverstein, Forbes.com, 9 Apr. 2025
Harry arrives to clean up the mess, but disposing of a corpse quickly becomes the least of his worries as the war between Richie and Conrad escalates.
—Matt Cabral, EW.com, 6 Apr. 2025
This now escalates tensions between the world’s two big economies even more.
—ABC News, 6 Apr. 2025
Adolescence escalates all these issues and fears to their most horrifying symbolic end.
—Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, Forbes.com, 5 Apr. 2025
The move escalates a trade war between the world's two largest economies.
—Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today, 4 Apr. 2025
The emotional reunion escalates into a violent confrontation, offering Swank a dramatic showcase in one of the season’s most pivotal episodes.
—Clayton Davis, Variety, 4 Apr. 2025
This earworm becomes a running punchline that escalates with a cameo from Ryan Follesé, the band’s lead singer and a longtime friend of Bess, who was happy to lampoon his rock star persona.
—William Earl, Variety, 22 Feb. 2025
Charlie Fink, Forbes.com, 12 Apr. 2025
But if the tariff war escalates, China will take its business elsewhere and leave West Virginia holding the bag.
—Ken Silverstein, Forbes.com, 9 Apr. 2025
Harry arrives to clean up the mess, but disposing of a corpse quickly becomes the least of his worries as the war between Richie and Conrad escalates.
—Matt Cabral, EW.com, 6 Apr. 2025
This now escalates tensions between the world’s two big economies even more.
—ABC News, 6 Apr. 2025
Adolescence escalates all these issues and fears to their most horrifying symbolic end.
—Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, Forbes.com, 5 Apr. 2025
The move escalates a trade war between the world's two largest economies.
—Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today, 4 Apr. 2025
The emotional reunion escalates into a violent confrontation, offering Swank a dramatic showcase in one of the season’s most pivotal episodes.
—Clayton Davis, Variety, 4 Apr. 2025
This earworm becomes a running punchline that escalates with a cameo from Ryan Follesé, the band’s lead singer and a longtime friend of Bess, who was happy to lampoon his rock star persona.
—William Earl, Variety, 22 Feb. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for escalates
Verb
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Sleep deprivation lowers productivity, increases absenteeism, and worsens presenteeism (where employees show up but perform well below their capacity).—
Julian Hayes II,
Forbes,
23 Mar. 2025
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The peculiar behavior of these materials, where resistance increases linearly with temperature, contrasting with the quadratic behavior in typical metals, has puzzled scientists for years.—
Aman Tripathi,
Interesting Engineering,
23 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Technology accelerates the cycles of interest and churn, and new, attention-grabbing products and services are everywhere.—
Nicki Sprinz,
Forbes.com,
9 Apr. 2025
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As change accelerates, companies will need a combination of sustainable and disruptive innovations to remain competitive and create opportunities for growth.—
Chris Perry,
Forbes.com,
9 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Each time the calendar flips during the NBA season, that number rises by just under $12k.—
Tony East,
Forbes,
22 Dec. 2024
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Steve Hard, the current head of medical at Portsmouth, explains how there are more layers to the job the higher a club rises through the leagues.—
Tom Burrows,
The Athletic,
22 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Comments Isabela Merced explains how HBO's 'The Last of Us' expands Dina's backstory from the game.—
Nick Romano,
EW.com,
10 Apr. 2025
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Its acquisition of the 219 Big Lots stores expands its footprint to over 600 stores across 18 states.—
Daniel R. Depetris,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Apr. 2025
Verb
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What to Know The latest funding threat comes as the administration intensifies its oversight of academic institutions.—
Mark Davis,
Newsweek,
14 Mar. 2025
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As climate change intensifies large-scale wildfires in the Sierra Nevada mountains, the invisible work of scientists becomes even more critical to the protection of public lands, Townsend says.—
Dua Anjum,
Rolling Stone,
14 Mar. 2025
Verb
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In addition, introducing fire emissions further augments the CO2 levels reviewed in the study.—
Jack Knudson,
Discover Magazine,
22 Jan. 2025
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The key point is that Generative AI augments and is not a substitute for human creativity, and the same idea applies to the other behaviors of transcendence.—
Mary Crossan,
Forbes,
20 Jan. 2025
Verb
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But the study demonstrates how competition raises the stakes of getting lucky early in life, says Robin Snyder, a theoretical ecologist at Case Western Reserve University who wasn't involved in the research.—
Jonathan Lambert,
NPR,
8 Jan. 2025
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This cost barrier raises important questions about whether digital immortality could create new forms of inequality.—
Patrick van Esch,
The Conversation,
8 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Escalates.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/escalates. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.
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