escalate
/ˈɛs.kə.leɪt/verb3 syllables
Escalate means: increase in extent or intensity.
Synonyms for escalate3
verb, as in increase in extent or intensity
intensify, step up
Opposites of escalate
de-escalate
What does escalate mean?1
verb
1
increase in extent or intensity“The Allies escalated the bombing”
Definitions from the Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Escalate in a sentence
- Direct confrontation can help prevent misunderstandings from escalating into bigger conflicts.Nuel
- The conflict quickly escalated from a soccer game to a diplomatic crisis.Amastan
- The dispute escalated into a public slanging match.sundown
- What started as a small argument escalated quickly into a fight.Nuel
- The bad blood between the neighbours escalated into a court case.maaster
- Santiago asked Rima not to escalate the situation.Amastan
- Sami and Layla's shouting match quickly escalated into a violent physical altercation.OsoHombre
- Lukas called Rima pathetic and the fight escalated.Amastan
Sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR, credited to their authors.
Forms of escalate
as a verb
- past tense
- escalated
- present participle
- escalating
- third-person singular
- escalates
- past participle
- escalated