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.

Origin of escalate

First recorded in 1920–25; back formation from escalator

Related formses·ca·la·tion, nounes·ca·la·to·ry

[es-kuh-luh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] /ˈɛs kə ləˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i/, adjectivenon·es·ca·lat·ing, adjectivenon·es·ca·la·to·ry, adjectivere·es·ca·late, verb, re·es·ca·lat·ed, re·es·ca·lat·ing.re·es·ca·la·tion, noun

Synonyms for escalate

1. advance, mount, swell.

Antonyms for escalate

1. lower, decrease, fall.

Pronunciation note

See percolate.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for escalatory

Contemporary Examples of escalatory

The escalatory ladder is far more terrifying than it was on the eve of the millennium.
ICYMI: India-Pakistan Head for Nuke War
Bruce Riedel
October 20, 2014
Yet if he retaliates with more economic sanctions or some military move, Pyongyang might start climbing the escalatory ladder.
War Looms for Obama in Iran, Syria, and North Korea
Leslie H. Gelb
April 12, 2012

British Dictionary definitions for escalatory

escalate

verb

to increase or be increased in extent, intensity, or magnitudeto escalate a war; prices escalated because of inflation

Derived Formsescalation, noun

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

Word Origin and History for escalatory

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.