escalate
[es-kuh-leyt]
verb (used with or without object), es·ca·lat·ed, es·ca·lat·ing.
to increase in intensity, magnitude, etc.: to escalate a war; a time when prices escalate.
to raise, lower, rise, or descend on or as if on an escalator.
RELATED CONTENT
RELATED WORDS
widen, raise, intensify, mount, rise, heighten, grow, expand, scale, extend, magnify, broaden, ascend, enlarge, climb, amplify
Nearby words
- esc.,
- escabeche,
- escadrille,
- escadrille américaine,
- escalade,
- escalation,
- escalator,
- escalator clause,
- escalatory,
- escallonia
Origin of escalate
First recorded in 1920–25; back formation from escalator
Pronunciation note
See percolate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for escalate
escalate
verb
Word Origin for escalate
C20: back formation from escalator
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
escalate
1922, back-formation from escalator, replacing earlier verb escalade (1801), from the noun escalade. Escalate came into general use with a figurative sense of "raise" after 1959 in reference to the possibility of nuclear war. Related: Escalated; escalating.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper