De-escalate

//diːˈɛskəleɪt// verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To decrease in intensity or magnitude. ambitransitive

    "We asked authors to consider two scenarios imaginable in the next five years. In the first scenario, a minor skirmish escalated into a multiweek maritime blockade of Taiwan by China. Although several dozen members of the Chinese and Taiwanese military were killed, U.S. intervention eventually forced China to de-escalate."

  2. 2
    reduce the level or intensity or size or scope of wordnet
  3. 3
    diminish in size, scope, or intensity wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
decreasedisintensifylowerstep downweaken

Example

More examples

"How can we de-escalate the conflict?"

Etymology

From de- + escalate.

Related phrases

de-escalation

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.