Escalate

//ˈɛs.kjə.leɪt// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To increase (something) in extent or intensity; to intensify or step up. ambitransitive

    "Violence escalated during the election."

  2. 2
    increase in extent or intensity wordnet
  3. 3
    In technical support, to transfer a customer, a problem, etc. to the next higher level of authority transitive

    "The tech 1 escalated the caller to a tech 2."

  4. 4
    To climb. uncommon

    "Thus, actually a prior uncounselled misdemeanor conviction may often prove to be a boon to one escalating the ladder of crime to the point where he has been convicted of a major aggravated offense."

  5. 5
    To move by escalator. rare

    "Escalator after escalator flowed up to the heights above, […] Dov escalated up beside me, scowling."

Synonyms

All synonyms
ascendboostbroadenbuoy upcast upclimb

Example

More examples

"The White House worries that the crisis could escalate."

Etymology

Back-formation from escalator.

Related phrases

de-escalatestep up

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